The Five Stages to Love
by Naganna
Summary: The sweetest bot on the Ark is bound to be able to love anybody, right? Even two minibot hating front liner's.
1. Attraction

Series Title: The Five Stages of Love

Chapter One: Attraction

Pairing: Slight Sunny/Bee, eventually Sunny/Bee/Sides

Rating: PG-13, will be R

Warnings: creative language

Summary: The sweetest bot on the Ark is bound to be able to love anybody, right? Even two violent minibot hating toughliners.

Bumblebee hummed softly as he stacked the last few boxes on the top shelf in storage room 13. There would usually be a spotter at the bottom of the ladder, to make sure that whomever was on the ladder didn't drop something, or worse, but nearly every other bot on the ship was down in the rec room celebrating an amazing victory over the Decepticons. But Bumblebee had been one of the only bots who hadn't finished putting everything away, mostly because he had been helping Windcharger stack his alphabetically, which is how the boxes were supposed to be.

Pushing the boxes back slightly, the yellow minibot smiled and started to climb down the ladder. His pede slipped on a rung halfway down and Bumblebee flailed slightly, trying to grab the ladder, but he only managed to push himself away. Spinning in the air for half an astrosecond, the minibot hooked his left pede on one of the rungs to the ladder and a loud 'CLICK' echoed in the storage room. Suspended, Bumblebee tried to twist around and grab for the ladder.

His pede slipped out of it's spot and the minibot went crashing to the ground, the following 'THUNK' just as loud as the previous click. Bumblebee laid on the ground and shuttered his optics, trying to figure out if he was hurt or not. Running a short diagnostic on his helm and processor, the minibot was relieved when he realized that he wasn't hurt. Standing from his spot on the floor and stretching lightly, the little yellow bot started to leave the storage room.

A soft twinge of pain in one of his stabilizer's made him pause, a sigh echoing from his vents. "Of course..." He muttered aloud, then bent over to check for any damage. When he didn't find anything visibly wrong with his stabilizer, Bumblebee started humming again and left the storage room, heading towards his room for some well-deserved recharge.

His roommate, Cliffjumper, was at the party in the rec room, even though he had a shift in the monitor room in only a few cycles. Limping slightly, Bumblebee wondered if he should head to the medbay just to be sure that he was alright, but quickly remembered that Ratchet, who had been working plenty of overtime recently had probably already gone into recharge for the night and considering the CMO only got the absolute minimum required recharge due to his flux of patients, the minibot absolutely refused to wake him up unless it was necessary.

_Besides..._ The minibot keyed in the code to open his door, his recharge cycle starting up. _It's probably just a kink._ Glancing at his roommates empty berth as the door slid open, Bumblebee wondered if Cliffjumper would be overly grouchy after his moniter shift. If he did go straight from the party to his shift, the red minibot was likely to run his mouth off at his two least favorite bots, Sunstreaker and his twin Sideswipe.

Sighing happily as thoughts of the handsome toughliner's trickled through his processor, the minibot slowly laid down on his berth and stretched out, ignoring the twinge from his stabilizer as he did so. He would just go see Ratchet in the morning.

Sunstreaker stared down at his brother in the relatively empty medbay, Ratchet had gone into recharge earlier and forgot that the toughliner could pick a lock. Sideswipe had been thrown during Jet-Judo and landed hard on his helm. He was perfectly fine, according to the medbot, but would need to spend the night in the medbay. His brother's optics slowly onlined, the blue shade dim even in the dark of the medbay.

"If Hatchet catches you in here, he'll slag you." Smirking softly, the golden warrior moved away from the bed. "I'll be fine, you heard the Hatchet. G'night Sun."

"G'night moon." Hearing his brother chuckle, Sunstreaker shook his helm at their newest inside joke and started back out of the medbay, keeping an eye on the door to Ratchet's office. As he left the bay completely, he glanced back at Sideswipe, but his brother's optics were already dim as he slipped back into recharge.

Not wanting to attend the party in the rec room without his brother as a buffer to his overly abrasive personality, Sunstreaker started towards their shared room instead. Rounding a corner, his optic caught Bumblebee slipping into his room, but the minibot didn't notice the toughliner. He was stumbling slightly, no doubt heading to recharge, and the golden warrior didn't bother to call out to him as the door slid shut.

As much as the toughliner wanted company right now, he had a reputation to maintain. That, and he was certain that the sweet yellow bot wouldn't want to spend the night with him, even if Sideswipe wasn't injured.

"Whatever..." Muttering softly, Sunstreaker continued down the hall, softly touching the minibot's door as he passed it. As he continued on to his room, he couldn't help but think about how much he wished Bumblebee would spend the night with him. He had never met a bot as caring or sweet as the mini and even though Sunstreaker despised minibots with a passion, he could never hate Bumblebee. If he didn't know that the rest of the Ark would beat him to death for it, he would gladly admit how he felt about the sweet yellow bot.

Sideswipe smiled as the doors closed behind his brother and quickly commed Bluestreak. :Blue, my bot! What's going on at that party? What am I missing?:

He heard the grey Datsun snigger through the link, obviously enjoying whatever he was seeing. :M-mirage and Hound sort of vanished earlier, can you guess why? Jazz and Blaster are having another dance battle. Prowl just pulled Brawn away from the high grade for the second time and Cliffjumper and Tracks are arguing over Bumblebee's aft.:

Nealy jumping off of the berth he was on, Sideswipe sent a ping to Bluestreak to keep him from rambling too much. :Wait, Blue, who's arguing over Bee now?: Sniggering again, the grey Datsun went quiet.

:Tracks was talking about how hot Bee's aft was. He was Bee's spotter on their storage shift earlier and said he got a good long look at it and wouldn't mind seeing it again, but Cliffjumper jumped up and told Tracks that he better not even think about it because Bee's aft belongs to him, which I only heard because I'm sitting right here next to them and the music tonight is so loud, I bet you can hear it in the medbay!:

The red twin's processor was reeling, despite the pain killers he was on, and he couldn't help the surge of anger that pulsed through his spark. _How _dare_ he? Who does Cliffjumper think he is?_ Bluestreak continued to ramble as Sideswipe tried to calm himself down. _I'm so sick and tired of not being able to have Bee!_ Thoughts of the minibot soared through his processor and the prankster settled back onto his berth as Bluestreak continued to relay the happenings of the party.

_I have to figure out something to do. I won't be able to sit by if another bot gets to have him just because I wasn't mech enough to stand up and get what I want._ Sunstreaker flashed through his processor and the red twin let his helm thunk against the berth. "Oh yea..." His brother's hatred for minbot's stemmed from a cruel prank played on him as a youngling, although Sideswipe had never understood why he hated every minibot for something one did to him.

He had been in love with a neighbor of theirs, a minibot with the designation Softspeed. Sunstreaker was very young at the time and gulliable. The older bot made Sunstreaker believe that he loved him and his brother ate up the affection, despite Sideswipe's warnings, and was horrified when he found out how much of a fool the older bot had made him out to be, using him like a cheap thrill bot and telling anybot who would listen all about his clever ploy.

Sunstreaker had closed himself off from everybot but his brother after that, unable to handle relationships and slowly becoming more and more violent. The toughliner's hadn't had a serious relationship in their life, tending to only seek a companion when they wanted to spice up their interfacing. _Maybe if I ease the idea of being with Bee into Sunny's processor, he won't outright reject the subject when I bring it up?_

Cycles later, Bumblebee came out of recharge with a sharp pain in his stabilizer. He had decided to forgo attending the victory party last night and go back to storage room 13 to finish his shift, or at least put everything away where it was supposed to go as opposed to the haphazard piles that he and the others on shift had left behind. Falling off a ladder certainly hadn't been his idea of fun, but Bumblebee was regretting not getting it checked out before retiring for the cycle.

He had been certain that Ratchet had already slipped off to recharge and knew better than to bother the bot with unfounded fears, but they seemed to be rearing their ugly heads now, as the human saying goes. The yellow mini rolled out of his berth slowly, his stabilizer aching, and a warning in his HUD flashed up to tell him that he was running very low on energon and needed to refuel heavily before the cycle really got started.

A secondary warning popped up just beneathe it, informing him that he hadn't had a proper recharge, something that hadn't happened in a long time. Checking his chronometer, he realized he was actually up late, which was unusual for him. He normally would've been up and about two or three cycles ago, but none of his alarms had woken him up and his self-repair system was sending a repeating message of 'Refuel Immediately' through his HUD.

Sighing softly, the spy pushed himself up off the berth, glancing over at Cliffjumper's empty one. He knew the red minibot had a monitor shift that would be ending soon because Bee had picked up the second half, but according to a note on his berth his room-mate would then be heading into town with Tracks, of all mechs, to pick up something for Perceptor. The science bot was working on a new formula for energon that would let it be more heavily concentrated and easier to transport in mass quantities.

Bumblebee stood up slowly, the pain receptor's in his stabilizer nearly overloading from too many signals. Venting harshly, the minibot stumbled towards the door and forced himself to stand up straight. He would head to the rec room to refuel, then go to see Ratchet about whatever was wrong with his stabilizer. Even though he knew it was a stupid thought, he hoped the medbot didn't bother asking him what had happened.

Bumblebee knew that while some bots, like Sideswipe, would find it funny how he had gotten injured, the medic would probably hit him with a wrench. Bee stumbled out of his room, forcing himself to walk slowly to hide his limp as much as possible.

Of course, now that he had started thinking about Sideswipe, he couldn't stop. And thinking about Sideswipe brought up thoughts of Sunstreaker, then thoughts of the twins together and Bumblebee was suddenly thankful for the pain because he didn't have to concentrate on keeping his cooling fans from turning themselves on.

Speeding up a bit as his HUD flashed another warning, Bumblebee wondered if he would ever be more than friends with the twins.

Sunstreaker hated the uncontrollable feelings he got whenever the bot was in the room. He hated the way his spark soared when that slagging adorable giggle left the bot's vocalizer. He hated how he could never decide if his optics were sky blue or cornflower blue. But mostly, he hated the fact that he was lying to himself about how much he hated the bot. There was nothing to hate about the sweet sparked mini, and the golden toughliner knew that.

Bumblebee, of all mechs, had somehow or another managed to grab Sunstreakers attention. And the mini didn't even realize it! He was still so slagging happy and friendly and giggly all the fragging time, because he didn't know that minibot hater Sunstreaker had a thing for him. _No._ The golden warrior thought, as the minibot he was thinking about walked into the rec room. _It's more than a thing._

The yellow bot glanced around the room and smiled at him, waving softly. He smiled back, though it was more of an upward quirk at the corner of his mouth. The bot started towards the energon dispenser and Sunstreakers optics dropped to take in his frame.

Anybot would tell you that yes, Bee was physically attractive. As opposed to most mini's, the spy was slender. His frame was built more for speed and sneaking around as opposed to intimidation. Not that Sunstreaker could ever find a minibot intimidating, but it was the thought that counts, or so the human saying goes.

He had known a while back that he was falling in love with the sweet yellow bot, especially because it seemed that no matter how mean the twins were to the mini's, Bee never treated them like they were evil. The spy greeted the twins kindly whenever he saw them, asked them if they were alright when they seemed down, and seemed to make a point of telling jokes and keeping a light-hearted mood when tensions got too high between the twins and other members of the ark

_Why is he limping?_ The golden twins thought process ground to a halt when he noticed the jerking motion of Bumblebee's stabilizers. Although the mini was doing a very good job of hiding his pain, he didn't realize how closely Sunstreaker was watching him. The toughliner stood up and made his way towards the little yellow bot who had retrieved his energon and settled down at a table. He slid into the seat across from the mini, making his optics widen in surprise.

Sunstreaker was suddenly glad that there were so few bots in the rec room, because what he was about to do was surely going to ruin his reputation as a minibot hater. "What are you thinking? Limping in here?" Bee's optics seemed to get even wider and he openly gaped at the mech. "Yea, I noticed. You may be Ratchets favorite bot, but if he finds out you were walking around with a limp and hadn't seen him, he's liable to hit you with his wrench. And that hurts."

One of the corners of Bee's mouth quirked up at the comment. "I know. I mean, he had a late night last night and I didn't think it was such a good idea to bug him this early, especially with it being his day off." The spy seemed uncomfortable, but he didn't move from his seat. The toughliner's optics narrowed and he leaned forward across the table.

"Did that happen in the battle yesterday?" Bee shifted and smiled. It was a guilty look, but it made Sunstreakers spark flutter. If he wasn't concerned about how badly Bee was injured, he might've grabbed the mini and kissed him. And if he wasn't concerned about what the other's in the Ark would think. _Why should I care about them?_

"No, but it's kind of stupid how it _did_ happen." Startled from his thoughts, Sunstreaker just raised an optic ridge as he waited for the yellow mini to elaborate. Shifting again, Bee glanced away. "It was an accident-" Before he could say any more, a loud voice interrupted him from the other side of the room.

"What the frag are you doing sitting with Bee, ya creep?" Cliffjumper nearly stomped over to their table, glaring and snarling at Sunstreaker. The red minibot sneered at the golden warrior, puffing up and trying to make himself look bigger. Normally, Sunstreaker would beat him to the pit, but he didn't want to be overly violent in front of Bee.

"I was having a conversation, you pit-spawned glitch." Forcing himself to stay seated, the toughliner watched Bee set down his energon, preparing to do damage control. Seeming to swell even more at Sunstreakers comment, Cliffjumper grabbed Bumblebee's arm.

"Come on, Bee. Let's head to the medbay." He pulled the mini up out of his seat, optics flashing in confusion at the sudden look of rage that formed on the golden twin's faceplates. He started to pull the slightly protesting mini away from the table, not even realizing that Bee's cube was still full. They were out of the room before the golden toughliner had reined in his temper enough to keep from lashing out.

When he realized that they were already gone, Sunstreaker sat and fumed. How dare Cliffjumper take Bee away from him? He wasn't the mini's keeper, and besides, Bee didn't protest when Sunstreaker sat down and he certainly didn't seem to mind the conversation they were having. He sat still for a few more kilks, trying to calm down, before grabbing Bumblebee's cube, sub-spacing it, and making his way out of the rec room. As he stomped towards the medbay, his thoughts began to drift.

_How did Cliffdropper know he needed to go to the medbay?_

"Fraggin' Decepticreep wannabe..." Bumblebee sighed at Cliffjumper's mumbling, knowing the red mini wouldn't listen to him about how the Twins weren't evil. "Fraggin' planning some prank, just narrowing down his victims." Having been a target for more than one of Sideswipe's prank, Bumblebee knew that CJ's ranting was somewhat justified, but he also knew that the twins did it out of a need for entertainment and not cruelty.

A sharp twinge of pain from one of his stabilizer's made him stumble as the red mini continued to drag him along. Cliffjumper stopped suddenly, turning to look behind him. "Sorry." He said gruffly at the look of pain on Bee's face. "I didn't mean to pull you along Bee, honest! I was just mad that that creep was talking to you." He sneered again and Bumblebee sighed.

"He's not evil, ya know? And if I hadn't been okay with talking to him I would've gotten up and left." He had to shift to the side to keep himself from grimancing at the pain in his stabilizer. "And I'm sure Ratchet's not even up yet and you know First Aid was one of the mech's damaged yesterday. With Perceptor just coming back from that convention and Wheeljack suffering from his last experiment-"

"You're going to the medbay if I have to carry you." Both mini's jumped at the harsh voice, Bumblebee more-so than Cliffjumper. Sunstreaker had somehow managed to sneak up behind them, an angry glint to his optics.

The golden toughliner had heard the tail-end of what Bee had been saying and he knew the spy was hurting a lot more than he let on. The yellow bot was going to put off going to the medbay, despite his pain, until it was convenient for everyone else. It was one of the things Sunstreaker adored about the mini, despite how annoying it was.

"No one invited you into this conversation." Cliffjumper's voice was tight and controlled, but Bee knew he was very close to starting something with the toughliner. Sunstreaker just sneered at the mini. "Why don't you head your dull aft back to the rec room, oh violent one?" The golden warrior's sneer was quickly becoming a glaring look of rage. He advanced on the two mini's, though he didn't seem to notice Bumblebee was still there.

"You must be fragged in the processor to talk to me like this. I'm going to break your slagging faceplates!" He grabbed out at the red mini, but Cliffjumper managed to get away from the servo's reaching for him. Bumblebee knew that if he didn't stop the two, they were both going to end up in either the brig or the medbay. He went to step between them as CJ opened his mouth to say Primus knows what, when something gave out in his stabilizer.

He listed to the side for an astrosecond before collapsing to the ground completely, unable to keep a sharp hiss of pain from escaping his vocalizer. The searing pain had nearly doubled from what it was when he had onlined this morning and he tried to push through the pain and stand back up, thinking that neither bot had noticed him fall.

"The frag Bee! Why didn't you say something?" Cliffjumper and Sunstreaker were both at his side in an instant, reaching down to help him up.

"Sorry, sorry!" He hissed again as the two larger bots set him on his pede's, feeling himself list to the side once more. "It didn't hurt this bad earlier, okay?" Sunstreaker steadied a hand against his backplates to hold him upright, earning a hot glare from Cliffjumper.

"What the frag are you apologizing for? Let's just get you to the medbay already." He went to pull Bee away from the golden toughliner, only to stare in wide-opticed amazement as Sunstreaker lifted Bumblebee off the ground completely.

"He can't walk on that stabilizer, you aft-head." Bee seemed just as surprised as Cliffjumper when the larger bot began to carry him down the hall. He felt like he weighed nothing while in the handsome toughliner's arms and the thought almost made his faceplates flush.

"U-um... Thank you." The politely whispered words seemed to pull CJ out of his state of shock, and he began to follow after, watching the golden twin for any sign of mischief. He expected the violence prone mech to chunk Bee at the wall or drop him, just to see if he'd bounce, but Sunstreaker simply carried the yellow mini to the medbay and through the doors.

Ratchet was checking on Sideswipe when the golden toughliner glided in. "Ratchet?" The medic snorted and waved Sunstreaker away.

"Your brother will be fine. He'll be on light duty later today and pulling pranks by tomorrow. Now get out of my-" He finally turned to look at the golden warrior, only to gawk at the bot in his arms. "Bee? What's wrong?" Bumblebee shifted uncomfortably and tried to avoid looking Ratchet in the optic.

"He's limping pretty bad. In fact, his stabilizer gave out on him on the way here." Concern immediately replaced the surprise in Ratchet's faceplates before he motioned for Sunstreaker to set Bee down on a berth. Cliffjumper snorted at how slowly the golden warrior laid Bumblebee down and glared at how his servo's hovered over the yellow plating.

"What did you need Cliffjumper?" Ratchet's gruff question brought the red mini out of his less-than-polite musings about Sunstreaker and he moved past the mech to get to Bee.

"I have to get back to my shift in the monitor room. Saw Bee limping his way to the rec room and decided I had to make him come here." The medic glared at the yellow mini, who had the decency to flush shamefully. "Knew he wouldn't come on his own until he was sure you were up." Snorting, Ratcher shook his head and waved Cliffjumper towards the door, and the red mini took the motion as his cue to leave, though he continued to glare at Sunstreaker, who had moved to stand by his brother.

"He's here and not leaving until I'm done." Cliffjumper nodded and left, glad that the Ratchet was aready running scans on Bee's stabilizer's, but concerning what he found, the medic felt like smacking the small bot. "You do realize one of the main lines in your left stabilizer is completely disconnected?" Bumblebee's optics shot wide and Sunstreakers helm snapped around to gawk at the spy.

The golden warrior had had a main line in his stabilizer disconnected before and it had hurt like the pit. How had Bumblebee, of all bots, kept from screaming in agony? Not that Sunstreaker had been screaming, but he had a very high tolerance for pain and he hadn't been aware that the yellow mini's tolerance was that high.

"Uh... N-no, I didn't. I thought it was just kinked last night-"

"This happened yesterday? It didn't show up when I scanned you after the battle." Bumblebee quickly shook his head, noting the appraising and expectant look from Sunstreaker, who had settled in a chair next to his brother's berth, watching the two of them converse.

"It's kind of funny how it happened..." He cleared his vocalizer and shifted as Ratchet began opening panels on his leg. "But it was an accident." Snorting, the medic stood straight and looked Bee in the optic.

"Are you going to tell me what happened or keep stalling?" The golden toughliner couldn't keep a smirk off his face as Bumblebee shot Ratchet a cheeky grin.

"Oh, caught me, huh?" Both larger bots snorted humorlessly at the remark before the white medbot brought his attention back down to Bee's leg. "I was putting some things away down in storage, which is what I was doing before the alarm sounded and I slipped on the ladder."

"What?" Bee seemed to shrink in on himself at Ratchet's tone, not even bothering to glance at Sunstreaker. He expected the larger mech to be laughing, but he would have been incredibly surprised at the mixed look of concern and anger. "Why didn't you come straight here?"

Clearing his vocalizer again, the yellow mini tried to shift further away from the angry medbot. "My pede got caught and I was suspended for a couple astroseconds, then I fell to the ground. It didn't hurt until I stood up and walked around a bit, so I thought I had just kinked a wire. Plus, I knew you had gone into recharge only a short time before and I really didn't want to wake you if it was just a kink." He shuddered and smiled up at Ratchet. "It would have been The Wrench of Doom for me and you know it!"

Sunstreaker couldn't keep himself from laughing this time, though he was angry at 'Bee for not bothering to wake up Ratchet. He would have been beating down the medic's door if something like that had happened to him or Sideswipe. _And if it happens to 'Bee again, I'll make sure to wake Ratchet for him. Slag what the rest of the Ark thinks._

He never noticed the soft smile the yellow mini shot at him when he laughed and Ratchet was already cleaning up the energon leaking from his busted line, fingers quickly shifting to solder what they could reach and put the line back in properly. "Well, 'Bee..." He smirked when the mini turned back to look at him, a look of dread on the adorable faceplates.

"You'll be happy to know I have to put you on light duty for a few shifts." Pouting cutely, the yellow mini nodded, having already figured that that would happen. "And-"

*CLANG*

A wrench had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and smacked 'Bee upside the helm, making Sunstreaker flinch in sympathy while Bumblebee grabbed his helm and leaned away from the medbot. "Do you realize that you were seriously injured? You could have died while you were in recharge! A disconnected line is not something to ignore, ever!" He stepped back from the apologetic mini, his red servo's on his red hips.

"Next time something like this happens, you will come straight here, is that understood?" Bumblebee nodded, keeping his optics on the medic for any sign of another incoming wrench. Sunsteaker, meanwhile, was laughing loudly next to his brother, so glad he had recorded that moment so he could show it to Sideswipe whenever the red twin onlined again. Both toughliner's loved it when another bot felt The Wrench of Doom.

Snorting, Ratchet went to set up an energon IV drip. "I think that's the first time I've had to smack you in vorns." Smirking, the medic turned to look at Sunstreaker and jerked his thumb at Sideswipe. "You got a vid of that for your brother, didn't you?" Both mechs noticed 'Bee's faceplates flush and barely stopped themselves from teasing the little bot.

"I did get a vid of that. Would you like a copy?" Ratchet nodded, a chuckle breaking free from his vocalizer.

"And Jazz will want a copy too." The yellow mini's faceplates were a bright pink by this comment and he was pouting adorably, but any reply he would have made was drowned out by a loud rumble from his tanks. Ratchet jerked to look at him at the sound, humor and concern battling for a place in his expression.

"Here 'Bee." Sunstreaker had retrieved Bumblebee's energon cube from his sub-space and set it down beside the yellow spy, much to the surprise of both bots. "You left it on the table when Cliffhopper started to drag you here." Ratchet smiled softly and went back to setting up the IV drip, hoping that he could bribe Red Alert into giving him a copy of the security vid from the morning so far. All these strange and funny things going on just made life on the Ark more interesting.

Bumblebee smiled brightly at the golden toughliner, aching to hug him, but he knew better than to touch the handsome mech. "Thank you, Sunstreaker! I was afraid I'd have to go all the way back and get it. I'd feel bad if it was left there all day and someone had to toss it out or something." Ratchet snorted again as he came over to 'Bee's berth, hooking the IV line into the minibot and motioning for him to lean back.

"Sure, you'd be upset about someone else having to clean up after you, but not about being hungry. That's just like you, 'Bee." The medic had a soft smile on his face as he patted the yellow mini's helm where his wrench had made contact.

"Yep!" He began to giggle, the lack of energon making it difficult for him to sit up straight, but he grabbed for his cube anyways. "I like to be inconveniently convenient." Both larger bots laughed out loud at this comment, the medic's vocalizer releasing sharp bursts of static as well. Sunstreaker looked up at the mini, a bright smile on his face, which only got bigger when 'Bee smiled back. The yellow mini was glad that there wasn't a scanner hooked up to his spark chamber or Sunstreaker would have seen how fast the orb was pulsing.

Neither noticed Ratchet off to the side until he reset his vocalizer, smirking at how both bots jumped guiltily and made sure to not look at each other. Sunstreaker quickly regained his air of arrogance and glared over at Ratchet. "How's Sides?" The golden warrior gestured at his brother, who was slowly coming out of recharge. The red twin groaned loudly and started to sit up, noticing Bumblebee sitting on a berth across from him.

"'Bee!" He whined suddenly, both of his arms reaching out towards the minibot. "'Bee, I need a hug!" An empty energon cube smacked him in the faceplates, having been jerked out of Bumblebee's limp hands by an angry Sunstreaker.

"You didn't even say hi to me!" He yelled at his twin and advanced to the berth, shoving him roughly. The red prankster laughed loudly and rolled off the berth, a bright smile on his faceplates.

"Sunny! Aw, you do love me." Sneering at his twin, Sunstreaker smacked him upside his helm and began to leave the medbay. He stopped short and glanced back at Bumblebee with a soft smile, then shot his twin a hot glare.

"Don't call me Sunny!"


	2. Romance

Series Title: The Five Stages of Love

Chapter Two: Romance

Pairing: Slight Sides/Bee and Sunny/Bee and Sides/Sunny, eventually Sunny/Bee/Sides, implied Cliff/Bee

Rating: PG-13, will be R

Warnings: creative language, heavy petting

Summary: The sweetest bot on the Ark is bound to be able to love anybody, right? Even two violent minibot hating frontliners.

Sideswipe laughed loudly as his brother walked out of the medbay, though it tapered off into a soft chuckle when he remembered the soft look the golden twin had shot the adorable minibot sitting on the berth across from him. He frowned suddenly, noticing the IV drip that was hooked into one of Bumblebee's main lines. "Hey, 'Bee?"

The minibot looked up at him, a soft smile on his tired face. "Are you okay? What's with the IV?"

'Bee ducked his helm, an embarrassed look pulling across his faceplates. "It was an accident, but a funny one, if you think about it." He glanced behind Sides as Sunstreaker walked back in to see what was taking his twin so long. Sideswipe jumped up to sit next to 'Bee, smirking back at his brother.

"I love funny things! Tell me, tell me!" The yellow mini giggled cutely and leaned back against the raised helm of his berth.

"I fell off a ladder." Sideswipe offlined his optics for a moment before onlining them again, shock overtaking the humor on his faceplates. "Then my stabilizer got caught and I was suspended for a klik before dropping down. Turns out, I disconnected a main line." The red mech openly gawked at the mini before grabbing him and pulling him into a tight hug.

"Mech, I know that had to hurt!" He patted the surprised mini on his backplates, ignoring the growl coming from his brother. "I've had that happen before, so has Sunny! It's fraggin' painful! Poor little Bumbly-bee. Don't worry, Sides is here. He'll make it all better."

Completely ignoring both his growling brother and the laughing medic, Sideswipe pulled Bumblebee into his lap. "Poor little 'Bee..." Ratchet chose this moment to stumble into his office, vocalizer short-circuited from laughing and only releasing barks of static. Nuzzling his cheek against the surprised minibot's helm, he grinned at his brother.

"What are you so fragged about Sunny?" He promptly stuck out his tongue, moving it closer and closer to the blushing minibot's sensory horns. The look of absolute rage on Sunstreakers face would have made any bot incredibly uncomfortable, but Sides just giggled. "Gotta run!" Shoving Bumblebee at his twin, Sideswipe took off, a broad grin on his faceplates.

Sunstreaker was distracted enough by having to catch the yellow mini, that he didn't notice when his brother snapped a picture of them. Bumblebee had landed perfectly in his twin's arms and the angle made the shot look like it had been taken right after the two bots parted from kissing.

'Bee's faceplates were flushed a bright pink, his optics wide in surprise, and Sunstreaker's face, which wasn't visible, could only be guessed at. The golden warrior didn't bother to chase after his brother, as he knew Sideswipe would be heading to their room.

Looking down at the minibot in his arms, Sunstreaker felt his spark soar. He was usually never this close to Bumblebee unless he was grabbing him for a game of Toss the Minibot, something he knew he would eventually have to apologize for if he ever really wanted to have a relationship with the mini. Lifting 'Bee back up, he settled the minibot on the berth, a slight quirk to the corner of his lips.

"He's such a brat, huh?" Without waiting for a reply from the mini, he made his way out of the medbay, completely forgetting that he was supposed to be mad at his brother. 'Bee only settled back onto the berth and tried to slip into a light recharge, wondering at the strangeness of what had just happened and why his spark was still pounding.

Meanwhile, Sideswipe was tucked into his recharge berth, happily staring at the photo of his brother and 'Bee. He had always found Bumblebee attractive, which was one of the reasons he had made sure that whenever they would play Toss the Minibot, that he would be the one to grab the yellow mini. That, and the bot was such a sweet spark that it was nearly impossible to hate him.

He had never brought up the idea of courting Bumblebee to his brother because he had been unsure about how his more violent counterpart would react to the idea, knowing that Sunstreakers hatred of minibot's stemmed from a traumatic experience that he wasn't likely to forget or forgive.

Of course, after watching how his brother reacted to the mini being injured, he knew he only had to give it a little push before they'd be courting the adorable bot into their berth. _'No.'_ He thought sharply. _'I want more than that. Bumblebee's the type of Mech you want to have forever.'_

He smiled down at the datashot, optics running over 'Bee's face again and again. He could see a small level of infatuation in the yellow mini's face mixed in with his confusion and surprise. Bumblebee's the type of Mech you make sure you can keep. The door chimed open and his brother glided in, a soft, contemplative look on his faceplates.

Sideswipe couldn't keep himself from smirking as a (slightly evil) idea formed in his processor. "What are you thinking about?" His twin chose to not respond, instead moving towards his desk to take out some paint for his next project. "I mean, I'm a little fragged off after what Cliffjumper said." Sunny didn't even acknowledge that Sideswipe had said anything, which was something the red toughliner was used to.

"I mean, who does he think he is? Talking about 'Bee like that." Sunstreaker had immediately snapped his helm around to glare at his brother. "You had to have heard it, right?" Of course, the rumor he was going to relay had more truth to it than lie, so he wasn't lying, technically. Sitting down on his berth, Sunstreaker leaned towards his brother.

"No, I haven't heard it. What was it about?" Sides snorted and leaned back, idly tossing the data-viewer back and forth in his servo's.

"Well, I'm not repeating it if you haven't heard it. It might not even be true!" His twin started growling again, his engine rumbling. "But according to Cliffjumper, Bumblebee belongs to him."

"WHAT?" Sunstreaker jumped up from his spot on the berth, nearly pinning Sideswipe beneath him. "What the frag are you talking about? Who does that mini-freak think he is?" Sides leaned up and quickly kissed his brother, trying to distract his rage, at least until he could finish.

Sunstreaker tried to pull away from him, but Sides gripped his shoulders tightly. "Just wait, Sunny. Let me finish, okay?" The golden twin glared down at him and straddled his brother's hips. His patience was wearing thin, having already been mad at Cliffjumper for what the minibot had said earlier. "See, Tracks was complimenting 'Bee's aft last night- Calm down!"

Sideswipe had to grab his brother as the violent warrior nearly leaped off of him. "Fraggin wait, okay?" Shaking his head, the red prankster stood up to get between his brother and the door, just in case.

"Bluestreak told me about it through my comm. when I pinged him about the party, okay? And you know how he is, talk talk talk. But anyways, he was talking, updating me on the party since I couldn't go, and apparently Cliffjumper told Tracks that he had to back off because 'Bee was his. What's up with that?" Sideswipe was doing his best to hide a grin. "'Bee belongs to us!"

"Slag yea!" Sunstreaker slapped a servo over his mouth shortly after shouting that reply, his optics wide and, if Sideswipe didn't know better, scared. The red twin felt his brother's apprehension through their bond, felt Sunstreaker's fear at admitting his feelings out loud. The golden warrior hating getting attached, the only exception to that hatred being his brother.

"I want him Sunny." Moving closer to his twin, Sideswipe tugged the golden servo down from Sunstreaker's faceplates. "I've wanted him for a while but I didn't know how to tell you." He activated the data-viewer in his hands, bringing up the data shot he had taken earlier of 'Bee in his brother's arms. "I want him, Sunny. Don't you want him too?"

The golden warrior was silent for nearly a breem, a far away look to his optics as he stared at the data shot. Sides couldn't help but glance down at it again, mentally putting himself in his brother's spot, imagining himself slowly pulling the yellow minibot towards him and kissing those gorgeous lips. Practicing on Sunstreaker sounded like a good idea, but that was for another time.

"I love him." The golden warrior almost seemed to be in pain as he admitted that, his voice sounding weaker than Sideswipe could ever remember hearing. "It's more than a want, Sides. I need him." Sunstreaker buried his face in Sideswipe's neck cables. "I don't know why I feel so attached to him, but I need him Sideswipe. He's perfect, everything I want."

The golden warrior shook his helm, finding himself unable to put his feelings into words, like usual. "He never seems to get mad at us, no matter how mean we are to him or the other minibots. He's never cursed us or insulted us. He always does his best to help everyone and he's nice, all the time." Sides moved back to lean against the door, tugging his brother with him.

"I thought it would be great to be friends with him, but I realized I wanted more, a lot more, and I had to tell you about it before I could make anything of it." Tugging his brother away from him so he could look him in the optics, Sideswipe smiled. "We need to go find Bumblebee and make him ours, don't we?"

It only took half an astrosecond for a wicked grin to make it's way across Sunstreaker's faceplates, a hardened glint to his optics. "It's a good thing we already know where he is..."

((((()))))

But Bumblebee wasn't in the medbay anymore, having talked Ratchet into letting him attend his monitor duty shift, the minibot was happily rocking his stabilizer's back and forth and dutifully staring at the screens in front of him.

Although he would be the first to admit that he's never given the screens his complete attention, he was trying to use them as a distraction from his own thoughts, which wasn't working. Sideswipe... His spark had soared when the red mech hugged him and nearly stuttered to a halt when he ended up in the toughliner's lap.

He knew it was odd to have fallen in love with the twins, even though he really couldn't stop himself. And Sunstreaker. Sighing softly, Bumblebee leaned back in his seat and watched as both twins slipped out of their room, broad grins on their faceplates.

He loved the way the twins remained playful and upbeat, even after millions of years of war. The way Sideswipe would play a prank on absolutely anyone, even himself, just to get a laugh. The way Sunstreaker could turn a few shades of paint into a masterpiece.

To Bumblebee, the twins were wonderful and perfect, despite their somewhat violent tendencies. The yellow mini quietly admitted to himself, as the twins slipped into the medbay, that his own deviant side loved the twins for their figures too.

Perfectly formed frames, handsome faceplates, and graceful movements made the twins incredibly pleasing to the optics, and 'Bee wasn't afraid to admit that he had had more than one fantasy about the toughliner's, though he had to be sure that he never mentioned that to Cliffjumper.

Bumblebee sighed again, a frown pulling on his faceplates as the twins left the medbay, looking angry now, and his thoughts turned to the red minibot. He had heard the rumors Bluestreak was repeating, about an overcharged Tracks complimenting his aft and Cliffjumper loudly staking a claim on him and warning the corvette to back off.

Bumblebee was glad that he had chosen to go back to his shift in the storage room instead of going to the rec room for the celebration party, even though he ended up injured. He didn't want to know what would have happened if he had been there when everything went down, as the humans said.

"What are you two doing in here?" Red Alert's accusing tone was normal, but not the two bots he was staring at. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe never came to the monitor room of their own free will unless they were planning a prank. The toughliner's ignored Red's comment and walked over to Bumblebee's station, grabbing the back of his chair and spinning him around to face them.

"How did you manage to convince Ratchet to let you come down here for your shift?" The yellow minibot squirmed a little under the twin's glaring, but shook his helm politely at Red Alert when the mech went to stand up.

"I volunteered for it last night, before the party, so Cliffjumper could go into recharge early, though he got drafted to go into town instead. It's only half a shift and Ratchet said it was fine since I'd be sitting down anyways."

"Stupid-aft fraggin Cliffhopper..." Biting his lip to stop himself from laughing at Sunstreaker's comment, Bumblebee went to turn his chair back around and get back to work, only to realize that the toughliner's were holding the chair in place. "Well, Ratchet's an idiot if he thinks it's a good idea for you to be on shift when you're likely to pass out." Red Alert snapped his attention to the golden warrior.

"Yea, what if you pass out right before some Decepticreep gets into one of the rooms you're supposed to be watching?"

"'Bee! You can't be in here doing monitor duty if you're going to pass out! Go, go! I can have Bluestreak come in early, yes. That'll work, keep everyone safe, you know." The paranoid mech quickly commed Bluestreak and waved Bumblebee towards the doors, muttering to himself about safety issues. "Listing monitor duty under light isn't a good idea. Recently injured mechs can pass out or not notice something. I'll have to bring this up to Prowl..."

The yellow mini flinched at having accidentally given the SIC more work, but slid out of his seat anyways, ignoring the grins on the twin's faceplates as they walked out of the monitor room.

Bumblebee decided to make his way to the rec room, knowing that Bluestreak would be headed there before his shift and he could apologize to the grey Datsun. He hadn't expected the toughliner's to forcibly redirect him away from the rec room and towards the entrance of the Ark.

"Wait, what?" Sideswipe laughed, one of his servo's clamped down on 'Bee's shoulder.

"Oh, don't worry 'Bee. We're just going for a bit of a walk, since you can't drive while on light duty. And, ya know, I can't drive on light duty either, but there are other fun things we can do!" The twins knew better than to drag Bumblebee to their room, having had their game systems taken away there wasn't much of an excuse they could give the mini that he would believe.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker also knew that 'Bee was comfortable outside and they wanted to tell him about how they felt in a place where he was comfortable and less likely to freak out. Just in case...

((((()))))

Bumblebee felt incredibly uncomfortable while he was walking between the two toughliner's, his systems trying to heat up from their close proximity and his lack of energon and decent recharge making it impossible.

The conflicting messages were making him lightheaded, and he had to keep himself from stumbling over his own pede's. He supposed that was one benefit to being injured, although he wasn't likely to try this method to keep from being embarrassed any time in the future. Exiting the Ark, the twins pulled him towards the rocks just to the left of the entrance, the grins still on their faceplates.

Bumblebee knew that just a ways further there was a large cave that he loved exploring with Spike and Carly. All of the different types of rock, due to the volcano, made for a beautiful myriad of colors. The two human lovebirds had spent many an afternoon sitting in the opening and trying to decide what color most of the stones were.

"Ta-dah!" Sideswipe threw his arms out when they reached the entrance of 'Rainbow Cave', as Carly had aptly dubbed it. "I know you hang out here with the humans a lot, but I wanted to do a ta-dah." The red twin shrugged and began to head into the cave, Bumblebee's bright giggle making both him and Sunstreaker smile.

Settling down on a natural shelf, Sideswipe patted the spot next to him. "Can me and Sunny tell you something 'Bee? Without you thinking it's a joke?" Bumblebee smiled sweetly as he settled in next to the red twin, though he couldn't help but feel uneasy when Sunstreaker settled in on his other side, trapping him between them.

"Well, sure! So long as you promise that it's not a joke or a prank, I promise to not laugh." Placing a servo on his chassis, Sidewsipe gave 'Bee a sincere grin.

"I swear this is not a joke or a prank, but you're more than welcome to laugh either way. I love your laugh." The yellow mini's smile faltered for a moment and he shifted awkwardly, wanting to glance behind him at Sunstreaker, who had sidled closer to him, but not wanting to look away from Sideswipe. "But it's not the only thing I love about you."

"Listing everything would take too long so we're just going to tell you straight out." Apprehension settled in Bumblebee's stomach, as he turned around to face the golden mech behind him. "We love you."

Now Bumblebee knew what Spike meant when he said 'the world seemed to slow down'. Once those words left Sunstreaker vocalizer, 'Bee could swear that every astrosecond was taking an entire orn or longer. He reset his vocalizer and turned his helm back to stare at Sideswipe.

"What kind of love? Like 'little brother' love?" The red twin smiled softly then leaned closer to the minibot.

"More like 'Primus, I want to online next to you for the rest of my existence' love." Optics widening, Bumblebee was too distracted by Sideswipe's words to notice when Sunstreaker leaned close enough to lick his audio receiver, though he certainly felt it. Whipping his head around to stare at the golden toughliner, 'Bee was even more surprised when the gorgeous mech softly pressed his lips against the minibot's.

"And despite Sunny's quietness, he really does feel the same way."

Sunstreaker pulled back, smiling at the blush that had pulled it's way across 'Bee's face. His minibot was so adorably perfect. _'I like the sound of that. My minibot.'_ Sideswipe leaned closer to the mini and licked his audio, much as his brother had done.

"So what do you say 'Bee? You don't have to give an answer or anything right now, because I want you to think about it, but we're basically asking you to enter into a serious relationship with us." The mini's spark was pulsing so fast, he was sure it was going to leap out of his chassis at any astrosecond and hug the two toughliners, which was an odd thought really, when he could just hug them right now.

He leaned up slowly, unsure if somebot was going to jump out and yell 'April Fools', even though it was July, then softly kissed Sunstreakers lips. The golden frontliner didn't even pause, immediately pressing further into 'Bee and wrapping his arms around the mini.

Bumblebee could vaguely feel Sideswipe press against his back and he groaned into Sunstreaker's mouth. Two engines revved at the sound, as two sets of servos began to grope over every micro-inch of his frame.

"A-ahn..." Sunstreaker pulled away from his mouth to nibble at his neck cables and without the twin's mouth covering his own, Bumblebee moaned loudly, his vents already starting to whine.

"W-wait... Wait a klik, Sun." Sideswipe pulled 'Bee away from the golden warrior, ignoring the harsh glare his twin shot him. "Bee, we want..." He vented softly, his engine rumbling. "We want to do more, Primus we do, but are you up for it?" The minibot tried to get his processor back online, because he was sure it had shut itself off, and listen to the red twin.

"The frag, Sides? He just physically said yes and you're stopping it?" Sideswipe hushed his twin and said only one word in response.

"Medbay." The golden warrior leaned back, a disappointed scowl on his face. "I mean, seriously, you were on an energon drip earlier and as much as I want to cover you in red paint streaks-" Both twins grinned at the bright blush that flashed across 'Bee's faceplates. "I don't want Ratchet to hit me for two things."

The yellow minibot raised an optic ridge and his voice was low-set, husky and sexual. "What do you mean 'two things'?" Grinning, the red twin turned 'Bee so that his stabilizers were laying in Sunsreakers lap.

"Ratchet will reformat us for stealing your innocence." Staring blankly at the toughliner, Bumblebee smiled.

"Who says he has to know?" Sunstreaker laughed, nearly throwing his helm back and began petting the yellow mini's stabilizers. "I mean, I don't like keeping relationship's secret, but it wouldn't be good for my love life if my significant others were reformatted into toasters."

The twins laughter trickled down into quiet chuckles after a klik, though both still had broad grins on their faceplates. "We love you 'Bee." The two toughliner's said together and kissing a cheek each, they untangled themselves from the minibot and stood up to make their way back to the Ark.

Bumblebee had to stay seated for another klik, his vents cycling more air than usual. "I think I do need to head back to medbay though." He shakily stood up, pouting at Sideswipe when the red twin moved to pick him up. "I can walk ya know!" Sunstreaker chuckled again, crossing his arms and appreciatively looking over the mini's frame.

"Some red streaks would look good on you. As long as there's some gold to compliment it." He grinned widely when 'Bee winked at him, though the spy's next comment sent the twin's engines into overdrive for an astrosecond.

"We will have to attempt this color project of yours, it sounds like a lot of fun."


	3. Passion

Series Title: The Five Stages of Love

Chapter Three: Passion

Pairing: slight Sunny/Bee/Sides and implied Cliff/Bee

Rating: PG-13, will be R

Warnings: creative language

Summary: The sweetest bot on the Ark is bound to be able to love anybody, right? Even two violent minibot hating frontliners.

Ratchet glared down at Bumblebee when he practically wobbled into the medbay, closely followed by the twin terrors, and the medic pointed the minibot towards a berth. "Red commed me that you were heading back to the medbay nearly a cycle ago. Where have you been?"

The yellow mini shot Ratchet a shame filled look as he made his way over to the indicated berth, but before he could try to pull himself up onto it, Sunstreaker lifted him off the ground. Placing Bumblebee on the berth, much to the surprise of the medic, who had expected the toughliner to toss the mini, Sunstreaker smirked over at the red and white bot.

"We botnapped him, for a bit of fun. He's kind of tired from it." Glaring suspiciously at the frontliner and his grinning twin, Ratchet moved over to inspect Bumblebee, who was sitting up on the berth with a soft blush on his face. And why were Sunstreakers servo's still on 'Bee?

"You were supposed to be sitting through a short monitor shift then going to your own room for some recharge, not going off to play 'clang, clang' with the twins." The yellow mini scoffed at Ratchet's statement, and though the medic was joking, he wouldn't be happy about how close he was to the truth.

Though they certainly hadn't gotten far enough for it to be considered 'clang, clang', a phrase Jazz had been using for vorns, the twins said they intended to do as much as he was willing, as soon as he was able. Bumblebee dreaded to know what would happen to the twins if the medic was to find out about their intentions, not to mention what some other bots on the Ark would do to them.

He was good friends with several bots and best friends with the rest of them. They wouldn't be happy when they found out, especially if they thought he had been forced as part of some sick joke. 'Best to keep it as quiet as possible-'

"How did you know that's what we were doing? Course, 'Bee was too tired for it to be real-real." Ratchet's wrench flew out of nowhere and smacked the grinning red twin as the medic began to run scans on the little bot, the readout's indicating that Bumblebee's levels were only slightly higher than they had been earlier, something that made the medbot frown.

"That's not funny you dumb-aft. You should never force a bot, it's just not right." Sunstreaker's expression reverted to his usual scowl and he crossed his arms over his chassis.

"I would never force a bot. I'm not a Decepticon, despite what Cliffbouncer thinks. 'Bee was totally up for it." Ratchet paused, Sunstreaker's statement running through his mind. Flickering his optics, the medic looked up at the golden toughliner.

"Are you two playing some prank on me?" Bumblebee couldn't keep his faceplates from flushing again, looking anywhere but at the curious medbot when Ratchet glanced back down at him. "Or just messing with 'Bee? I'll have you know that I won't stand for you pranking one of my friends like that. I will reformat you into toasters. Pink ones."

Both twins shuddered at the thought, but Sideswipe stepped closer to the berth. "We're serious. 'Bee's an absolute sweet spark. He's been a good friend to us for a long time, but Sunny and I both decided we want more." Grinning, the red twin grabbed one of 'Bee's servo's and pulled it up to kiss it.

"And we don't really like waiting for things so... Now or never, right?" The expression on the medbot's face had gone from suspicious to scandalized to enraged in a matter of astroseconds, and Bumblebee noticed a decent amount of fear on the twin's faceplates.

"We thought it would be best to have our relationship out in the open before anyone could start spreading rumors. Though 'Bee mentioned his worry that you would want to reformat us into toasters, even said that." Sideswipe reset his vocalizer at the increasingly stoney look on Ratchet's face. "We're taking it slow...?"

"Get. Out." The medic's voice gave everybot in the room a chill, even the recently onlined Wheeljack, who was sitting up on his berth. "I will talk with you later, but get out of my medbay. Now!" The toughliner's turned into blur's as they rushed from the room, though Sides managed to plant a small kiss on Bumblebee's cheek before running out with his brother.

The medbay doors closed after the twins and the sound of a lock engaging made a cold feeling of dread settle in 'Bee's tanks. He looked up at the medic with apprehension, but Ratchet was looking over at Wheeljack now. "The lowest of the low." He said in a quiet voice. "How could they? I thought Toss the Minibot was a sick game, but now they're playing this one? Fraggers..."

Shaking his helm, the medic pushed Bumblebee to lay down. "Your levels are way too low. Sitting through a monitor shift? Fine. Getting pranked by the twins? Not fine." He shook his helm again and went to set up another energon drip, trying to ignore the kicked-puppy look the yellow minibot was sending him.

"'B-bee?" Wheeljack's vocalizer glitched, barking a short stream of static. "A-are you s-sure this isn't a-a-a prank?" The engineer tried to reset his vocalizer, but the static only increased for a klik. "I kn-know you l-l-like the twins-s, but you sh-shouldn't let them m-mess with y-you, okay?"

"Like the twins?" Ratchet looked scandalized, his optics and mouth wide. "You can't be serious, 'Bee! I mean, don't you remember how many times I had to repair you from them tossing you around? Or how about when Sideswipe welded you to the ceiling of an unused storage room and disabled your communicator?" The yellow mini cringed at the reminder, wondering if he should bother asking the twins about that incident. "You were there for nearly an entire joor before you managed to get your communicator working again."

"W-wait, Ratchet-t-t. 'B-bee doesn't h-hate any bot, you kn-know that. A-and he likes th-the twins b-b-b-because he does. Y-you can't really dec-c-cide who you like, ya kn-know?" Hooking the IV into 'Bee's line with a little more force than necessary, Ratchet muttered an apology when the mini flinched. "H-he's liked th-them for a-a while, but kn-knew that they b-both, S-sunstreak-ker especially, d-don't like m-minibots-s-s."

"Thank you, 'Jack." Bumblebee smiled at the engineer, who flashed his helm-fins a bright yellow. "But I think you should stop trying to talk, that sounds painful." Snickering, the injured bot laid back down on his berth and shot 'Bee a thumb's up. "And Ratchet?" The medic turned to face the minibot, a frown on his faceplates. "Thank you for worrying about me, but 'Jack is right. I've liked the twins for a long time."

He reached out to take one of the medic's servo's, knowing they were his weak point, and held onto it tightly. "Even if this is a prank, I'll try to enjoy it while it lasts. If it turns out bad, I'll help you pick out colors for their new frames." Bumblebee softly squeezed one of the red servo's and tried to ignore how dizzy he felt, even while sitting down.

"Just don't get hurt 'Bee. I can put your frame back together and I can fix most spark damage, but not that. I can't repair a broken spark when the the pain is emotional, ya know?" Nodding, the yellow mini settled back on the berth as he felt his recharge cycle starting up. "I put a light sedative in the drip, because you need to recharge, okay?"

Though his vision blurred, 'Bee managed to see a smirk form on Ratchet's face. "I'll have my talk with the twins now."

((((()))))

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were standing just outside the medbay doors, trying to listen to the conversation going on inside, but knowing it was a futile effort. The walls of the medbay were mostly soundproof and Ratchet was actually doing a good job of not yelling, but it was Bumblebee he was talking to.

"We knew that this would happen." Sides frowned at his brother. "'Bee's good friends with just about everybot, so we'll be getting a lot of lectures and threats, especially from Wheeljack. Aren't they best friends or something?" Nodding, the red twin started to walk away from the medbay doors, Sunstreaker turning around to follow him.

"It's not fair." Glancing curiously at his brother, the golden twin didn't bother saying anything, knowing that the prankster side to Sideswipe was pouting. "We've liked him for a long time and Ratchet's just gonna diss that? Not cool."

Sighing, Sunstreaker softly, for him, punched his brother's shoulder, making the red twin stumble and glare. "Who are we, Sideswipe?" Seeming to think for a moment, the other toughliner frowned.

"Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. What, did you forget?" Snorting, the golden warrior turned back to the doors, pacing, which was unusual for the handsome frontliner.

"We're the minibot hating pranksters, remember?" His frown deepening, Sideswipe's helm dropped.

"Oh, yea..." Sighing heavily through his vents, the red twin glanced up at the security camera's. "I wonder who we'll hear it from next?" Of course, Ratchet chose that moment to open the doors of the medbay and glare at the toughliner's.

((((()))))

Perceptor had ordered several chemicals from different labs so that he could study the different reactions that the chemicals had to energon in his attempt to make a more concentrated form of the fuel. Chosen because of the argument they had, which nearly led to a fight had Prowl not broken them up, Cliffjumper and Tracks were heading back to the Ark with the shipment, both bots being quiet despite the length of the trip.

Growing agitated with the silence, Cliffjumper revved his engine, pulling ahead of the larger sports car. "Hey!" Tracks revved his engine in reply, pulling up to drive next to the red minibot. "If you wanted a race you could have just said something!" Cliffjumper snorted, slowing down to get behind the other bot, completely confusing the corvette.

"I don't want to race, you aft-head. I'm just bored with this stupid trip. I could be back at the base-"

"With Bumblebee?" Cliffjumper nearly stuttered to a stop, the red tint of his vehicle form almost brightening at the comment.

"No, Primus! Why does everyone keep saying that?" Snorting, Tracks picked up his speed again.

"Maybe because at the celebration last night you very loudly proclaimed that he belonged to you." Cliffjumper couldn't believe the words coming out of Track's vocalizer, his vehicle form stuttering to a complete halt. Sitting still for nearly a breem, the red minibot tried to remember what had happened the night before, his processor not yielding any answers.

He would normally get overcharged at a party, but he had never forgotten the entire night before. Gunning his engine, he started back towards the Ark again, hoping to catch up to Tracks and get him to explain before they reached the labs, but he wasn't nearly as lucky as he had hoped. Tracks had already gone inside to Perceptor and was unloading the chemicals, much to the scientists excitement.

The red mini put what boxes he could fit onto the counter, grumbling quietly at the manual labor that didn't involve shooting something. Tracks waved happily at him, having unloaded and signed in all of his boxes and already leaving the room. Cliffjumper just sneered at the mech, drawing a curious look from Perceptor.

"Cliffjumper?" The scientist tilted his head to the side. "Are you alright? I do hope that it wasn't too much trouble to procure and transport my samples. If so, then I apologize." The red minibot shrugged, stacking the small remaining boxes on the floor.

"It's fine. Just something happened last night that I don't remember 'cause I was too overcharged. Bots have been teasing me about it all day and it's really annoying." Perceptor smiled softly and reset his vocalizer, the soft coughing sound equivalent to a human clearing their throat.

"From the rumors spreading across the Ark you very loudly told Tracks that Bumblebee belonged to you. Of course, I did not witness the event, but Bluestreak will tell any mech with functioning audio receptors all about it." Gawking at the scientist, Cliffjumper cursed and smacked himself in the faceplates.

"The frag is wrong with me?" Grabbing at the forms he needed to sign for transporting the chemicals, the red mini cursed again, shaking his helm. "I need to tell Bluestreak to shut up, seriously. And find 'Bee to explain." Perceptor smiled a few kliks later when Cliffjumper handed him the forms and began to leave.

"I wish you luck in your endeavor Cliffjumper." Nodding at the scientist, the red mini quickly made his way out of the lab and towards the medbay.

"Thanks, I'll probably need it." He didn't stop to see if the well-spoken science-bot had a reply to that, but picked up his pace, hoping to get to the medbay before 'Bee was discharged. Unfortunately or fortunately, he caught the modest end of a rather frightening lecture that Ratchet was spouting at the twins.

"And I'll only tell you this once, understand me? Primus help you if 'Bee comes in here one joor sobbing because of you aft-heads, because I will hunt you down and insure that the rest of your life cycle is an absolute misery. Got that?" Both toughliner's nodded, though Sideswipe had a broad grin on his faceplates.

"You know you already said that? Though not in that context, but you've already said it more than once so..." He snickered at the look on Ratchet's face, but before the medbot could start into another lecture, Sides faceplates fell into a soft smile instead. "We're serious Hatchet. I know it'll take a while for everybot to believe it, but we're absolutely serious about this."

"So quit screeching at us and answer my question," Sunstreaker leaned forward, his servo's curled into fists at his sides. "Is 'Bee okay?"

"What's up with 'Bee?" Cliffjumper, having filed away the conversation as something he would certainly ask about later, didn't expect the incredibly violent reaction he got from the golden twin when he moved towards the small group.

"I will fraggin break you into a billion separate pieces and keep you alive at the same time, you pipe-sucking, ugly aft son of a glitch!" Sideswipe quickly grabbed his brother and held the volatile mech back as best he could, though he was slowly being dragged forward.

More surprised than scared, Cliffjumper had moved around the twins to stand next to Ratchet, watching in fascination when the red twin communicated something to his brother through their bond, the golden mech calming down almost immediately.

"The frag was that about?" The medic couldn't keep the surprise from his expression as he stared at the heavily venting Sunstreaker, who still hadn't taken his optics off of the red minibot.

"Oh, Sunny's just upset because of Cliffdiver being all ''Bee is mine' last night." The golden twin growled loudly, his engine revving impressively. "Sunstreaker, I mean. I meant to say Sunstreaker." Sideswipe glanced warily at his brother, knowing that the golden mech wouldn't be afraid to beat the slag out of him and would probably even enjoy it.

The red mini rocked in place for a moment, scratching at his stomach plates. "Yea, about that..." Ratchet, grinning, glanced between the three bots and stepped away, wondering how this would go down. "I don't even remember saying that or even remember anything from last night, so I was heading down here to apologize to 'Bee, cause I figured somebots were probably teasing him about it and I didn't want him to get the wrong idea."

Ratchet raised an optic ridge and began to walk towards the medbay doors. "'Bee was only in the monitor room for a short time earlier, then he was with his new 'significant others', who eventually had to bring him in here because he was about to pass out from their 'activities'." Sputtering at what the medic was alluding to, Cliffjumper stomped after him.

"'Bee doesn't have a significant other, frag-it-all! Who the slag are you talking about?"

"Why do you care?" He glanced back at the twins, taken back by the sneers on both of their faceplates. "From what you said earlier, you don't actually like him like that, so what does it matter?" Puffing himself up, Cliffjumper growled.

"It matters because I want to give the slaggers a piece of my processor! They should've thought about the fact that 'Bee was in the medbay earlier and shouldn't have-have..." Cliffjumper waved his servo's around in odd gestures. "Whatever! Done their 'activities', okay?" Sideswipe couldn't keep himself from laughing, leaning on his brother for support until the golden mech shoved at him to get off.

"The words you are looking for are 'heavy petting'. Which normally leads to 'interfacing', which is an intimate act between two bots who care about each other or want to get off-"

"I know what the words are Ratchet!" Cliffjumper slapped his hands over his audio receivers, shaking his helm roughly. "Shut up! I'll just tell 'Bee later, frag-it-all..." Quickly moving past the twins and heading to the washracks, as there was still quite a bit of dust on him, the red mini continued shaking his helm, much to the amusement of the three larger bots.

"Pri-... Primus, he's all- *snort* all shy about saying it!" Sideswipe pulled away from his brother completely to lean against the wall. "Oh, my vents hurt..." Ratchet had walked back into the medbay as the red twin snickered quietly for another klik before straightening. "I think we should steal the PA system later and announce that Bumblebee is ours. What do you think?"

Sunstreaker grinned, reaching out with a fist to bump it against his brother's. "Let's do it now."

((((()))))

Bumblebee onlined, the sound of feedback screeching across the base wide speaker system and startling him out of recharge. He sat up slowly, glancing across the medbay at Ratchet, who was doing a bit of work on Wheeljack. "What was the announcement?" The medbot shrugged, turning the engineer slightly to get at his side better.

"Red Alert hasn't said anything-"

"Attention occupants of the Ark!" Three sets of optics widened as Sideswipes voice came out of the speakers, a playfulness to his tone.

"We are making this announcement ahead of time to stop any rumors that might be forming. Firstly, I would like to congratulate Spike on 'losing his virginity', which basically means he lost his interface seals. And congratulations to Carly for taking it. Secondly!" Sideswipe grunted and an exclamation of 'fine, fine, you say it!' was heard in the background.

"Listen up bots!" Sunstreaker somehow managed to be intimidating even when he wasn't present. "Bumblebee is a claimed minibot, our minibot, and we don't want to hear about some slagger, like Cliffpopper, shouting out that 'Bee belongs to him. Furthermore, whatever bots decided to let 'Bee finish that shift in storage room 13 by himself, better be ready to get slagged because-"

A loud pounding broke through the rest of whatever Sunstreaker was going to say, Red Alert's alarms sounding in the background. "We'll be in the brig if someone wants to talk to us!" Sideswipes voice sounded far too cheerful considering the situation...

As the PA system cut out, 'Bee stared over at Ratchet with a very slack look on his faceplates. The minibot wasn't sure if he should feel embarrassed, angry, concerned, confused, happy or excited and it was difficult to feel all of the emotions at once. "I'm going back into recharge. Please don't let anybot wake me, okay?"

The medic nodded, staring at 'Bee with a mix of concern and humor, but Wheeljack was laughing hard enough that he nearly fell off of the berth. "Oh, it h-hurts t-t-to laugh..." Ratchet just shook his head, trying to decide if he should bother remembering today or pretend like it was all a strange dream brought on by being overcharged the night before.

The day had been full of humor, no doubt about that, but he felt bad for Bumblebee being caught in such a strange web. "Now there's a thought." He muttered into the quiet of the medbay, Wheeljack's vocalizer giving out on him completely. "Of course, instead of a spider and a fly, it's two bots and a 'Bee."

Chuckling, the medic looked down at the shaking engineer and checked over the fresh welds. "Let's have a look at your vocalizer now, 'Jack. See if I can get you to stop stuttering."

Of course, Ratchet had a slew of visitors over the next few cycles, mostly bots looking for Bumblebee, but some of the visitors were mechs who required medical attention because their processors had crashed from the illogical information.

((((()))))

Cliffjumper, who had been sitting on his berth prepping for recharge, was staring at the far wall, his optics dim. 'What the slag was that announcement? A joke or something?' The red minibot pushed himself to his pede's and started to pace, an unusual feeling of rage jumping through his systems.

''Bee and I... We're just friends. Right?' He tried to recall the party the previous night, when he had apparently gotten into an argument about Bumblebee's aft with Tracks, but he was still drawing a blank. Settling back down on his berth and starting up his recharge cycle, Cliffjumper muttered the phrase, trying to trigger a memory.

"'Bee's aft is mine. 'Bee's aft is mine. 'Bee's aft is-" Cliffjumper shot up, his faceplates going slack and his optics widening as he realized what he had been talking about. CJ would be the first mech to admit that he was an incredibly honest bot when he was over-charged, but he wasn't very good at putting his thoughts into words.

Tracks had been alluding to making 'Bee his roommate, just to stare at his aft more, and Cliffjumper had gotten protective of his friend when he realized that the corvette had less than honorable intentions. But with how he had defended his fellow minibot, by vehemently claiming him in a somewhat vulgar manner, it made sense that bots were acting like they were an item.

"Slag it all." Laying back down, the red minibot started up his recharge cycle for the third time. "I'll just explain it later. Fraggers gotta make everythin' complicated. Dumb-aft Tracks fer startin' it..." His words slurred as he finally drifted into recharge, resolving to appease the situation as quickly as possible.


	4. Intimacy

Series Title: The Five Stages of Love

Chapter Four: Intimacy

Pairing: Sunny/Bee/Sides

Rating: M

Warnings: creative language, heavy petting, intercourse, (MechxMech; don't like? don't read)

Summary: The sweetest bot on the Ark is bound to be able to love anybody, right? Even two violent minibot hating toughliners.

When Bumblebee onlined his optics next, he was in one of the private exam rooms in the back of the medbay. The lights were on low and the door across from the berth was clearly marked as 'locked', making the minibot wonder what had happened that made Ratchet put him in isolation, for lack of a better term.

Considering the announcement the twins had made, over the PA system no less, he had probably had a lot of visitors and the medic had gotten tired of chasing them off before they could wake him. Bumblebee decided that it was time to get up and slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position.

Surprise flitted through his process when the spy realized how much better he felt. His stabilizer didn't hurt and he didn't feel the least bit dizzy! 'Ratchet is awesome. I'm gonna go tell him that.' As he slowly slid off the berth, he heard muffled voices through the door.

"It's cruel." Prowl's normally calm tones sounded nearly acidic, freezing Bumblebee in place with one pede on the floor. "They've always picked on the minibots, Sunstreaker for personal reasons and Sideswipe because he supports his brother no matter what, but this is cruel, Ratchet." The medics reply was muffled and 'Bee quietly advanced to the door, hoping to hear more. "I hope you know that I can have Jazz down here in a spark-pulse and he can use Officer's rule 3, supplement 38-"

"If you want to see him you can wait until he fraggin onlines!" The medic yelled, making the yellow minibot, who was listening closely, nearly jump out of his armor. "What part of 'disconnected a main line' did your processor not process? He is recharging and will remain recharging until he wakes up, and there will be no outside interference to speed that process along!"

Before Prowl could reply, Bumblebee unlocked the door to the private room he was in, the loud click seeming to echo in the medbay. When the yellow minibot opened the door, he hadn't expected there to be more than the three mechs in the main room, but aside from Prowl, Ratchet, and Wheeljack; Optimus Prime, Ironhide and Red Alert were all sitting in various spots in the medbay.

"Are you alright Bumblebee?" The Prime's deep, soothing tones were like a balm in the room, the concern in them almost immediately dispelling the tension. "Did you really go into recharge with a disconnected line?" Nodding sheepishly, the spy walked into the room, glancing at his 'audience'.

"I really did disconnect a main line, sir, but it didn't hurt until I was coming out of recharge earlier this Joor. But I'm fine Sir!" Hastening to keep his words from depressing the Prime, Bumblebee smiled brightly at his leader, the admiration and affection he truly felt shining through his optics. Smiling fondly behind his battle mask, Optimus couldn't help but sigh.

"Bumblebee, I have to ask... Is there something more intimate than friendship going on between you and the twins?" The minibot shuffled his pedes awkwardly for an astrosecond, his optics glancing at the other bots in the room.

"Are you asking because of the announcement that Sides and Sunny broke into the monitor room to make over the PA system?" Prime nodded, standing to his full height and staring down at the yellow bot. Bumblebee straightened, raising his optics to stare directly into his leaders. "Yes sir, there is something more intimate than friendship going on between myself and the twins."

The large mech seemed to sag, his optics dimming and his shoulders slumping forward. "Bumblebee, every bot on the Ark knows that the twins love to play pranks and that the minibots are their favorite victims." Moving forward, Optimus clasped his servos behind his back. "It's not that I don't trust your judgement, but I truly do not want to allow Sunstreaker and Sideswipe to take advantage-"

"I love them." The room went quiet, Prime's rebuttal freezing in his vocalizer. Prowl and Red Alert both looked like their logic circuits were going to freeze up and Ironhide burst out laughing. "Despite what most bots think, I'm very selfish, and even if this is some cruel prank they're playing, I'll take what they'll give me for as long as they'll give it, because I love them."

He smiled softly, his optics brightening. "So really, I'm the one taking advantage of them, right?" Aside from Ironhide, who was still laughing quietly, the other bots in the room looked uncomfortable for a klik, no doubt trying to wrap their processors around the idea that Bumblebee wanted to be with the twins and that he had openly admitted to being selfish.

"It was upsetting, ya know? Loving them and being so fond of them and yet knowing that they would never see me like that. I tried my best to just be their friend, but I just couldn't stop myself from wanting more. Then they approached me and told me that they wanted more.

"Even if it's a well thought out lie or a really cruel prank, I'm going through with it anyways."

"I guess it's true, what the humans say." Wheeljack shook his helm, no doubt smiling fondly at the sweet sparked minibot behind his blast mask. "Love makes people, or in this case bots, crazy."

Bluestreak had witnessed the entire event in the medbay thanks to his monitor shift, from the twins bringing the yellow minibot in, to being present when the twins broke in to make their announcement, up to Bumblebee's confession, and being the overly talkative bot that he was and not being very good at thinking before speaking, the grey Datsun chattered about it into the audio receptor off any bot unlucky enough to be near him.

As the story spread around the Ark, not only of Bumblebee accepting the advances from the twins, but even wanting them, the two toughliner's were being released from the brig to clean the washracks as their punishment for breaking into the monitor room and locking Red Alert in a closet.

When the twins heard the rumors being spread by just about every bot on the Ark, that Bumblebee wanted to be with them even if it was a prank, they came to the realization that having been overly cruel to the minibots in the past, that they would have to make up for most of it, if not all, before anyone would believe them.

"I'm not being nice to Cliffjumper. Ever." Sighing at his brother's contemplative growling, Sideswipe just nodded. "Brawn is okay-ish. I don't really care about the rest of them. I can just ignore them, right? That's not being nice, but it's not tossing them."

"I like Toss the Minibot..." The red twin pouted, turning his helm to face his brother as they both scrubbed at separate drainage pipes for the washrack. Mucky filth and grime was jammed all along the inside of the pipes and though there were specialized tools to help grab or push the muck, they were both still getting dirty.

"I would get to grab 'Bee. Though I never tossed him at the wall, just in the air so I could catch him." Sideswipe smiled brightly, waving one of his servo's at his brother, despite the brown gunk covering it. "He always had the cutest blush on his faceplates whenever I caught him! He was fraggin adorable!"

The golden twin smirked at his brother's enthusiasm, doing his best to ignore the marks all over his paint job as he dumped another handful of muck into the bucket at his feet. "So that's why I never got to toss him. Because you were being selfish?" Sideswipe opened his mouth, no doubt to make a sarcastic retort, but closed it, his lips falling into a thoughtful frown.

"I was always afraid you'd hurt him..." Pausing, Sunstreaker glanced back at his brother. "I mean, the minibots really only ever got dings and small dents from being tossed, but I knew that you played the game because you wanted to hurt the mini's and I didn't want you to hurt 'Bee."

A sharp snapping sound made Sideswipe tanks twist in dread. Turning to face his brother, the red twin realized that he really shouldn't have said what he did. The golden frontliner had snapped his cleaning brush in half and was snarling in anger, his optics burning an unnatural dark blue as he advanced on his brother.

"I would never hurt 'Bee." Quickly raising his hands and trying to placate his violence prone twin, the red prankster backed away slowly.

"I know that now, but I didn't know it at first, right? I was... I was sure you hated every last minibot in existence, regardless of who they were!" He backed away again as Sunstreaker growled, lifting one of his servo's and balling it into a fist. "If I had known that you felt the same way I did, this wouldn't be a problem, would it? I mean, we would've done this earlier! Maybe even before we went into stasis for millions of years and-"

"Tha' long?" Both frontliner's went into battle mode, snapping their helms towards the door and crouching, ready for anything. The washracks were quiet as their systems immediately shut down any unnecessary programs and rerouted the energy to their battle circuits.

The quiet seemed to stretch on for breems, though it didn't take more than a few astroseconds, before a mech walked out of the shadows. Jazz had his arms crossed over his chassis, his visor on stealth mode, and a soft grin on his face.

"Ah'll admit, when ah was headin' down here ah was gonna maim ya, least a lil bit." He began to walk over to the toughliner's, chuckling as they both tensed, optics following his movements warily. "Ah mean, 'Bee's mah favorite minibot, ya know?" Their faces went from angered to enraged, optics narrowing dangerously and Sunny's brightening to nearly white.

"But so long as yah promise ta be good ta him, an' ah mean good, then ah don' have any problems wit' ya bein' wit' him." Uncrossing his arms, the saboteur smiled brightly at the twins. "He's off in his room righ' now, tha ones he's sharing wit' Cliffjumper?"

The twins began to relax, their battle circuits slowly shutting down and letting their more unnecessary programs restart. "'Bee's gonna be mighty lonely in them quarters wit' Cliff bein' on patrol for him." He turned and left the washracks, a mischievous glint to his optics.

The twins didn't need any more incentive and, quickly putting away the tools they used and scrubbing themselves down, the two hellions made their way to Bumblebee's room, ignoring any mech who called out to them.

Hound nearly managed to corner the two, no doubt wanting to ask about the announcement they had made, but the twins dodged around him at the last second, pushing Mirage back at the scout, which was followed by an indignant protest from the noble. Once they got to 'Bee's room, the two reached down to the access panel at the same time and paused.

They knew the codes to the yellow minibot's room, just as they knew the codes to most of the rooms on the Ark, but they didn't want to barge in there if he was sleeping. Staring despondently at the door, both sighed before turning to walk back to the rec room and get the third degree from the rest of the crew.

The doors behind them swished open, a short yellow form ambling out. "H-hey mechs." 'Bee seemed nervous as the two toughliner's whipped around to stare at him. "U-uh, Jazz commed me. Said you were sorry about something? I was gonna head down to the washracks to talk to you, but since you're here...?" He tilted his head to the side, getting slightly flustered as the twins remained quiet and motioned for him to go back into his room.

He slid back inside and watched warily as they followed him in and the door slid shut behind them. The mini's room was only about half the size of their room, but they had been given one of the larger rooms so they could have more things in there to entertain themselves and keep from getting bored.

One side of the room was covered in small collections of various items from different planets around the universe and the twins knew that was Bumblebee's side of the room because Cliffjumper could never be bothered to collect anything that wasn't a weapon. The two didn't glance at the other side of the room, not wanting to break optic contact with the smaller mech in front of them. From the way Bumblebee was trying to not look at them, the twins knew they had some explaining to do.

"'Bee-" Sideswipe went quiet as he realized that for once in his life-cycle, he had no idea what to say. He had been in love with the yellow minibot in front of him for so long, that he wasn't sure if he could put the emotion into words, words that he wanted to say, needed to say, to reassure the mini that this wasn't a prank, that they were serious.

"When you smile, the entire room seems to light up." Bumblebee and Sideswipe both stared at Sunstreaker as he moved closer to the smaller bot. "It doesn't matter how many times I get slagged in battle or what any bot says to me, when you smile, especially at me, I feel like Primus himself just hugged me." Optics widening, 'Bee opened his mouth to reply.

"When you laugh, I feel like laughing just because I'm happy that you're happy. When you're upset I can't help but want to hurt whomever decided it was a good idea to hurt you." Kneeling in front of the stunned bot, Sunstreaker softly grasped one of his servo's and lifted it to his faceplates.

"You're always there; happy, helpful, kind, giving, gorgeous, smart, funny, and perfect. Amazingly so." Bumblebee's faceplate was a mixture of awe and reverence, a combination the twins knew he had only ever directed toward their leader, Optimus Prime. "I consider myself lucky to be able to see you every joor, to be considered your friend. But I want more."

"We both want more and we're sorry that we didn't say something sooner." Words began to spill out of Sideswipe's mouth, a bundle of things he didn't know he could say with a straight expression. "We want to online next to you every morning, to hear your voice say our names over and over again."

He knelt next to his twin, grasping 'Bee's free servo and cradling it in both of his. "We want to be with you for as long as you'll have us, which I hope is forever." Glancing up at the quiet minibot, Sideswipe was happy to see a small smile on his faceplates.

"Wow..." There was no blush across his cheek, but both toughliner's knew he felt incredibly embarrassed, simply from the way he lowered his helm. "I-" He squeezed their servo's and lifted his helm, a bright glow to his optics. "I want more, with both of you." Both mechs surged forward, each kissing a separate cheek and pushing the surprised minibot backwards, towards his berth.

He landed aft-first, a surprised squeak issuing from his vocalizer, before the twins clashed for half an astrosecond, each trying to kiss his lips. Sideswipe was the first to back off, nuzzling down to his neck cables instead and biting them.

A soft moan broke free from Bumblebee's mouth, despite how Sunstreaker was pressing their lips together, and the toughliner's shivered at the delicious sound, their engine's revving. The minibot was making sure to give as good as he received, his digit's dipping into seams and stroking wires softly, teasingly, before curling around cogs and stroking over them.

Both twins moaned as each had one of the minibot's servo's pressed into a seam on their side. Bumblebee giggled into the kiss he was sharing with Sunstreaker as the golden twin traced his tongue over his lips, asking for entrance, and brought one of his stabilizers up to press against the frontliner's interface panel, loving it when the golden twin's engine revved again.

A sharp pain in his neck made the minibot's gasp into the kiss, rocking softly and, oddly enough, enjoying the sting. There were signals in his HUD reminding him that he was on light duty and that he shouldn't push himself, but he pressed into Sideswipe nonetheless, loving how the red toughliner bit down again, growling possessively and sucking hard.

Sunstreaker, certainly not a mech to be ignored, kissed Bumblebee harder, biting and nibbling at the minibot's swollen lips. Sideswipe licked the bite he had left on 'Bee's neck cables, moaning softly when the minibot's servo's left his side and dipped into a seam on his hip plating and began to twiddle the wires.

The twins had had plenty of lovers before, but none of them had had servo's that were quite so talented. Bumblebee mewled above him, pressing forward into his brother with a shiver, and he had to glance up to see what was going on.

Sunstreaker had one of his servo's on the minibot's helm and he was roughly pinching one of the pointed yellow horns, a grin visible on his faceplates through the kiss he was sharing. Sideswipe immediately reached his servo up and gripped the other horn, Bumblebee releasing a loud mewl and bucking his hips, much to the pleasure of the twins.

The yellow minibot had to pull away from the golden frontliner's mouth as his vents began to whine, warnings flashing in his HUD that his systems were over-heating. "I... I'm gonna overload already, fraggit all." The twins smirked at him as they traced random patterns over his frame.

"I mean, it's been a while since I had attention like this so it's a little overwhelming. Not that I don't want to, because I really, really, really want to I just don't think I'm going to last too long and I'm totally pulling a Bluestreak right now, aren't I?" The curious look in Sideswipe's optics made Bumblebee's faceplates flush.

"How long has it been?" The red twin leaned forward and kissed at the bite on 'Bee's neck cables again. "And what mech do we get to slag for fragging you?" The minibot giggled and leaned away, trying to get his processor to cool down as Sunstreaker idly traced imaginary lines over his codpiece, the touch barely there.

"I think it was a few vorns before we went into stasis and we were both really overcharged, Bluestreak and I." Both twins stuttered slightly and leaned back.

"Vorns before stasis? Did you really just say that? Oh, 'Bee! Now I know we really should've told you earlier." The red toughliner moved forward and kissed the yellow bot, pushing him further onto the berth so they could both loom over him.

The overly-talkative Datsun was a good friend of theirs and they wouldn't be too mad at him for interfacing with their minibot, but they would have to make sure that he knew that he wasn't allowed to do it again. Bumblebee moaned loudly, the sound causing the twins engines to rev again, as the toughliner's straddled one of his knees each, touching and kissing every micro-inch of his upper frame.

The minibot's cooling fans were nearly screaming at this point, as they hadn't calmed much during their talk interlude, and the sound of Bumblebee's interface panel sliding back wasn't heard over them. He arched upwards, mewling and whining, as a digit traced the edges of his valve, which was already dripping with purple lubricant.

Sunstreaker slowly pushed the digit in, marveling at the sheer tightness of the minibot's valve walls, wondering if they would ever get him stretched enough to take either of their cables, when the yellow bot beneath them nearly screamed in overload, his frame shuddering and steaming slightly.

Glancing upwards, the golden twin realized that his brother had taken one of Bumblebee's sensory horns into his mouth and was sucking on it loudly. As the minibot rode out his release, the two toughliner's continued to map out his frame with their servo's, keeping him in that heated bliss for as long as possible. When the charge release ended, Bumblebee slumped back, his vents sputtering softly and his optics offline, his processor going through a short reset.

"Why didn't we do this sooner?" Sideswipe whispered to his twin, his own fans whining and trying desperately to cool down his frame. "And your digit is still in his valve, ya know."

"Because we didn't know the other felt the same, on all accounts. And I know." He grinned, pushing another digit in as the minibot's optics began to brighten. "We're not done yet, Sides." Bumblebee shuddered at the words, a bright smile curling across his faceplates and sending both of the toughliner's sparks racing.

"Round... two?" The minibot didn't need to say anymore, as the twins started their ministrations up again, smiling happily and with no small amount of lust. Sunstreaker began to scissor his digits, pulling and pushing them out of Bumblebee's lubricant soaked valve and grinning at the look on the minibot's face.

Sideswipe was toying with the releases on either side of the yellow bot's spike, sucking on a sensory horn and running his digit's over seams in the bot's backplates, pressing just enough that the pressure was pleasant, but not enough to build a charge. Seeing the red twin's game and knowing how to combat it, Bumblebee took drastic measures.

His servo left the toughliner's hip and pressed into the seams around his interface panel instead, stroking the overheated wires and making Sideswipe buck his hips. "Fraggin' Pri-Primus!" His panel immediately slid open as Sunstreaker pressed another digit into the minibot's valve, grinning all the while about how Bumblebee was capable of revving them up while being revved up himself, which the toughliner's knew took quite a bit of concentration.

Then the golden twins digits graced over a set of sensor's in the valve surrounding them and the yellow minibot bucked wildly, throwing his helm back and moaning. Unable to handle how hot Bumblebee was when he was in the throes of passion, the mech slowly withdrew his fingers, glancing down at Sideswipe pressurized spike.

"You first...?" He panted softly. "Or me?" The red twin shuddered and pulled back in an attempt to angle himself, but stopped as he realized something. He wanted to go first, but he knew that Sunstreaker's issue with minibot's was the only thing that had stopped the mech from pushing his own spike into Bumblebee's prepped valve.

"You-" He panted again, leaning more to the side as the minibot's digit's slid further into the seams around his panel. "You first, I guess?" He was still giving his twin the option of backing out, but what the yellow bot beneath did next surprised both frontliner's.

"Both of you... Please?" He tried to slide towards the golden twins digits again, his valve feeling empty without those skilled appendages pressed into him. "Just slowly, but both of you. Please..."

Sunstreaker's panel had already slid back and his spike had been released, pressurizing quickly. The connector hub of his interface cable pressed against the minibot's opening, slowly stretching the soft metal as it slid inside and the golden twin groaned at the feeling, throwing his helm back with his cooling fans whining loudly.

The valve was incredibly tight, like nothing he had ever felt before and he wondered vaguely if 'Bee was always this tight or if it was a trait he shared with other minibot's. "Are you sure you... Can handle both of us?" He pulled out shallowly and thrust back in, trying to push himself further into that inexplicably tight heat. "You're so tight."

The minibot whined and bucked his hips, letting Sunstreaker's large spike press into him, as Sideswipe played with his sensory horns. "Y-yes... Just slowly-" He moaned as the toughliner's spike began to press against the same bundle of nerves his digit's had found earlier, shuddering at how delicious the stretch was.

The golden twin was being slower and more considerate than he had ever been with a partner, but Bumblebee didn't know that. He didn't know how hard it was for the twins to take their time while interfacing, but considering how long it had been for Bee, they knew that his panel and all of it's components would need a good warm-up before the real workout.

Pulling out slightly, Sunstreaker pressed a digit in to sit beside his spike, trying to see just how tight the minibot was, and groaned at how it was nearly impossible for him to slide the digit past the rim of the valve, the heat around him seeming to tighten even more.

He could swear it was like taking a virgin, although he knew Bumblebee wasn't one, and he pressed the digit in further, trying to stretch the minibot who was rocking against him and moaning loudly. Sideswipe pushed the yellow bot up, much to the surprise of both of his berth partner's, then slid in behind him, grinning and running his fully-pressurized spike across Bumblebee's aft.

Pressing another digit in as the minibot groaned and tried to relax his valve, Sunstreaker felt his twins digits stroke over the same area, where they pulled his servo away and took over the task of stretching the little yellow bot. All three were making heated sounds by this point, rocking against each other with abandon, their processor's feeling short circuited.

Then Bumblebee wrapped a small servo around Sideswipe spike and guided it to his valve. "N-now, please... Won't last much -ahnnn- much longer!" The red mech pulled his digits out and began to press his spike in, right when Sunstreaker magnetized his spike and fully connected to the minibot. Keening and grinding his hips, Bumblebee pulled himself up and slammed down, forcing Sideswipe's spike into his valve.

"PRIMUS!" Yelling, the red twin arched upwards, pushing his partner's into sitting positions when he felt just how tight the minibot was around his cable, especially when his brothers was in there as well. "Oh, Primus... Primus..."

"St-stop calling m-me that, Sides'." 'Bee giggled and rocked his hips again. "And move!" Obliging his minibot, and hoping they would do this again soon, Sideswipe rocked his hips, his spike rubbing and twisting around Sunstreaker's, making the golden mech groan.

Their servo's had taken a break for the last few astroseconds, while their processor's tried to recall basic functions, but they renewed their petting, the sensations doubling through the connections taking place in their interfacing.

Sideswipe had taken one of Bumblebee's horns into his mouth, sucking loudly, and his brother was biting the other, denting the metal and growling possessively. 'Bee's servo's dug deeper into the seams he could reach, stroking over-heated wires and petting transformations cogs.

The three of them overloaded quickly, still plugged into each other, and the toughliner's groaned at their minibot's screams, their fans whining loudly enough to be heard in the hall. Falling sideways on the berth, the three of them slipped into recharge, the twins surprised that they had overloaded hard enough to be too tired for a second/third round.

But they would make up for that, over and over and over again, in the near future.

Cliffjumper was glad that he had 'cleared the air', as the humans say, with Bumblebee earlier. After explaining what he had meant by staking a claim on his aft, the yellow minibot seemed a lot less tense and had even thanked him for trying to protect him.

Now, listening to the odd sounds coming from the room he shared with Bumblebee, Cliffjumper stood frozen outside the door. His fellow minibot had screamed only a klik ago, although the scream certainly hadn't been one of pain, and Cliffjumper was unsure as to what he should do.

It had been a long day with far too much drama, ending in a long patrol with absolutely nothing to distract him so he really wanted to go into recharge but-

"Hey CJ!" The red minibot turned to see Jazz sauntering towards him, a bright grin on his faceplates. "Ah jus' wanted ta let ya know, ah got a room set up fo' ya, cause ah'm not sure if ya wanna go in there ta-night." Nodding, the soldier didn't even voice an objection, simply followed the taller mech away from the door as an odd whining sound came from his room.


	5. Commitment

Series Title: The Five Stages of Love

Chapter Five: Commitment

Pairing: Sunny/Bee/Sides

Rating: R

Warnings: MechxMech, heavy petting, creative language, slight angst

Summary: The sweetest bot on the Ark is bound to be able to love anybody, right? Even two violent minibot hating toughliners.

((AN: I would like to mention that while this has only 5 chapters, following the stages of love, there will be a second story uploaded with short stories/drabbles that go with this series))

Bumblebee groaned softly as his internal alarm told him that he only had a cycle before he would be needed down in storage room 17 to help organize datapads of old reports. He was comfortable, squeezed between the twins on his tiny berth and certainly didn't want to wake them up, but he didn't want to be late for his shift either.

He also didn't want to show up for his shift covered in red and gold paint streaks or with any of the various dents he knew he was sporting across his frame. This all meant that he had a cycle to get to the washracks and clean himself off, then head to the rec room where he would no doubt be interrogated before he could retrieve his energon or even head to the medbay so he would be late anyways.

So, logically, he shouldn't bother getting up, right? He chuckled to himself and snuggled further into the two bodies pressed against him. Sideswipe had his backplates to the wall, his arms flopped over 'Bee with a serene smile on his lips and Sunstreaker was laying almost on the edge of the berth, his arms wrapped tightly around the minibot.

Smiling happily and wondering, not for the first time, if this was all a dream, Bumblebee offlined his optics and put himself in standby, the Cybertronian equivalent of dozing. His snuggling just astroseconds before had woken up the two toughliner's and they quietly onlined their optics, both smiling down at the minibot.

"What do you call the emotion where you're really happy and really scared at the same time?" Sunstreaker looked up at his whispering twin, raising an optic ridge, unaware that Bumblebee could hear their conversation. "I'm really happy for obvious reasons, but really scared for obvious ones too... He's Prime's favorite minibot, everyone's favorite minibot! We are so _slagged_!"

Sideswipe gripped the minibot tighter, pouting at his brother when the golden warrior laughed. "We're built for battle, you dumb-aft. We'll survive." Processing that line, the red twin nodded in agreement. "Of course, I'm a cycle late for that patrol I'm supposed to be on... And didn't you have a monitor duty shift earlier?"

Bumblebee slowly onlined his optics, pretending to be just coming out of recharge, and the two toughliner's grinned down at him. Flushing, the minibot smiled and squirmed, unintentionally arousing his companions. "I'm not trying to kill the mood, but... I have a shift in about a cycle and I think I should head to the washracks first."

He glanced down at his chassis when the two warriors pulled away from him a bit. "As much as I love the color combinations, I don't want to get you two in too much trouble..." Pouting adorably, Bumblebee leaned his helm back to stare at the twins as they pushed themselves up to loom over him as they had the night before.

"What's with the look 'Bee? We can get some of the paint off you here, ya know. You don't have to leave just yet." The spy had to work to keep the pout on his face, though he darted his tongue out for an astrosecond to run across his lips, startling the toughliner's and arousing them even more. But, pouting heavily, Bumblebee pretended to sniffle.

"Our color project's going to be ruined." Sideswipe had to bite his lip to keep from laughing, humor brightening his optics. Sunstreaker didn't bother being quiet and cackled loudly at the minibot's comment. "It was so much fun and it just isn't right that it has to be wiped away. Although, it'll probably be okay so long as there's a sequel."

The red twin couldn't hold it in anymore and laughed loudly, his vocalizer letting loose with a burst of static. "There will be many sequels 'Bee. As many as you're willing to participate in, in fact." Sunstreaker leaned back and pushed his twin out of the light, snapping a quick photo of the mini and storing it in his databanks.

The minibot was laid out on the berth beneath him, his optics dim and that adorable pout on his faceplates. Streaks of red and gold paint criss-crossed on his frame, seeming to appear like fire across the spy's chassis. "Although I will definitely be painting this later."

Flushing brightly, Bumblebee moved his arms above his head and pushed his chassis up a bit, a sultry look in his optics, and licked his lips again, slowly. Two engine's revved loudly, but before they could do anything to the delicious looking minibot the door slid open.

Cliffjumper stood frozen in the door, staring at the toughliner's with his roommate, the position they were in and the obvious evidence from the previous nights activities. Quickly moving into the room, he grabbed the cleaning case for his rifle from beside his berth and went right back out the door. The red minibot paused in the doorway, glancing back at the twins.

"Prowl's looking for you two, about your shifts." Without another word, Cliffjumper left the room, the door sliding shut behind him.

"Well _that_ killed the mood." Pouting, Sideswipe pushed his brother off the berth and moved to stand up. "We should all head to our shifts, after we clean up a bit, before we get into anymore trouble." There was a loud clang as Sunstreaker hit the ground, but the golden mech quickly stood up and looked himself over.

"Don't you have a mirror in here, 'Bee?" Bumblebee slowly started to sit up, a smart comment on the tip of his tongue, but an extreme burning pain from his interface components made him pause. His optics widened and he laid back down, a single whimper making it's way past his lips. "What's wrong?"

Smiling despite his pain, the minibot decided it was best to turn it into a joke. "You know how if you over work a system, especially one that hasn't seen any action in a few vorns, it tends to hurt a _lot_ the next cycle?" Both toughliner's shuttered their optics at him before immediately bending down to check out his equipment.

"Ooo, it's swollen and inflamed and Hatchet is going to deactivate us for real this time..." Sideswipe muttered as he lightly ran a digit over the lips of Bumblebee's valve, pulling back and apologizing when the minibot hissed in pain. "I'll carry you down to the medbay." As he reached forward to lift the smaller mech up, Sunstreaker batted his servo's away and reached down.

"You're late for your monitor shift and I know Prowl has already replaced me on patrol, so I'll be taking 'Bee down to the medbay, thank you _very_ much." He grabbed the yellow minibot and slowly lifted him up, muttering an apology when Bumblebee hissed in pain again. "That, and I run faster than you so I'm less likely to get hit by a flying wrench." The red prankster laughed.

"That is _so_ true. See you later 'Bee!" Kissing the smaller mech goodbye, Sideswipe left the room, no doubt heading for the washracks before bothering with going to his shift.

"We were too rough." As the golden mech took in more of Bumblebee's frame, he began to notice that there was quite a lot of evidence of just what they had been doing. Hardened purple fluid, lubricant from the minibot's valve, was decorating yellow thighs and Sunstreaker knew he had to get some of it off of 'Bee's frame before they went to the medbay.

Not just to save the minibot from embarrassment, but also because he didn't want any bot to know what his little spy looked like after a night of passion. Taking a cleaning cloth out of his subspace, Sunstreaker went to work buffing out the most obvious of the streaks, smirking as his minibot wiggled and moaned at the pleasing sensation.

Ratchet muttered in his usual grumpy way as he went about the medbay, fixing the last few problem spots on Wheeljack's frame so the engineer could get back to blowing himself, and the rest of them, up at random intervals.

He chuckled when the engineer flinched away from his red servo's, but that didn't stop the medic from closing up the last bit of his neck to ensure that the repaired vocalizer was in place. Sending a surge to activate the components, Ratchet chuckled again as Wheeljack twitched and hissed out a short stream of static.

"Ra-ratchet-t-t-t..." He reset the vocalizer quickly, his optics widening at the two who had just walked into the medbay, although, technically, it was a larger bot carrying a smaller one. "You have, uhh... guests?" The medic turned around to look at the doorway, but he had to offline his optics and bring them back online, the sight was so unbelievable, even though something similar had happened only yesterday.

"Sunstreaker and... Bumblebee?" The minibot was flushing guiltily, looking anywhere but at the two mechs in the medbay.

"Hey Ratchet!" Sunstreaker, the violent, scowling frontliner, was smiling brightly, more than one streak of yellow and red on his chassis, and holding Bumblebee closely, almost lovingly. "You know how you don't use a component for a while and then it gets a really good workout and it ends up swollen and inflamed?" Speed-walking at the look on the medics face, the golden mech placed Bumblebee down on one of the berths closest to the door. "I guess you do, so I'm going to go away now."

A wrench came flying out of nowhere and nearly smacked the toughliner as he bolted for the doors, but he made sure to pause before going around the corner and blow Bumblebee a kiss. "Get back here, you fragger! I told you that if he ended up in my medbay because of you aft-heads I was going to slagging remodel you!" The medic stomped towards the doors, ignoring the laughing engineer and the blushing minibot completely.

"Ratchet you need... a good fragging." Wheelack was getting used to his repaired vocalizer, spacing the words enough that he didn't stutter and smirking happily at Bumblebee. "So you... got laid?" 'Bee had to bite his lip to keep from laughing, but nodded at his best friend as Ratchet turned around and headed towards his berth.

"And you! What did they do to you? I want details." Grinning slyly, the medic leaned against the berth-side table, much to the surprise of the smaller bot. "No, seriously. I've heard plenty of things about the twins and I want to know what they're like." The yellow minibot couldn't hold it in anymore and he laughed, his vocalizer barking out static as he twitched on the berth.

"Ow, it hurts to laugh..." Laying still at the burning reminder of pain in his interface components, Bumblebee smirked at the medic. "Can I tell you after you take a look down there? It really has been out of use for a while so..." Unable to keep himself from laughing, Ratchet unhooked the berth from the wall and pushed it towards one of the exam rooms.

"We'll be back out in a bit Jackie." The engineer just nodded. "After I get all the juicy details of course!"

Ratchet 'hmm-ed' softly as he looked over Bumblebee valve. The walls were swollen and inflamed, just as they would be if the minibot were a virgin who had been taken too roughly, but he knew Bumblebee wasn't a virgin because he had done check-ups on the minibot's interface components before, just as he had to for every bot on the Ark. Oh the joys of being a medic...

He knew that no mini would ever want to spend the night being fragged by Optimus Prime or Ironhide because they were both larger bots with larger than average equipment. And that Cliffjumper was, in fact, a virgin. The only bot on the Ark with that particular issue, but it wasn't something Ratchet would tell any bot anyways. Doctor-patient confidentiality.

"Ratchet?" He looked up at Bumblebee when the minibot pushed himself up into a sitting position. "Is it supposed to hurt this much? I mean, they did _prep_ me, ya know." Unable to keep himself from grinning, the medic moved over to a set of drawers and pulled out a small tube from one of them, before leaning over the minibot's open interface panel again.

"If a valve hasn't had a spike in it for a while it becomes difficult to stretch and shouldn't have any spike bigger than it's counter component shoved into it. How long has it been?" He squeezed a little of the gel from the tube onto the tip of a digit and slowly pushed it past the rim of Bumblebee's valve, muttering apologetically when the minibot whined in pain.

"Since before we went into stasis." Widening his optics at the mini, Ratchet began to spread the gel around the inside of the valve, finding himself heating up slightly at just how tight it was around his digit. "And then the actual last time was a few vorns before that." Making a choking sound, the medic paused, gawking at the spy who shifted uncomfortably.

"Bee... Why didn't you say something? There are plenty of bots on this ship that would have loved to interface with you." Bumblebee flushed at the unexpected compliment and Ratchet elaborated. "You're a favorite, you know that. Just about every mech on the Ark loves you in one way or another."

He pulled his digit out of the minibot's valve and coated it with more of the gel, smiling when Bee moaned at the cool, numbing sensation. "I didn't know that... I mean, I haven't had very good relationships in the past and-" He stopped, glancing at the door and fidgeting before looking back at the medic.

"Most mechs who would get into a relationship with me only did it for the interfacing. Not that it wasn't great, but I wanted something more serious. At least once. And no bot had ever approached me about starting a relationship before, so I always did the asking. I just haven't bothered since I joined the Autobots." Shrugging at the medic's affronted look, the minibot continued.

"I mean, a lot of times, Minibots are seen as nothing more than tight valves, that's why they act so tough, to try and get people to take them more seriously, but I could never act like that. I can't be mean, I just _can't_." Ratchet smiled as he pressed the digit back in, a heavier coating of gel on it, and the lips of the valve spread more readily because of the numbing effects.

"I know you can't be mean, it's adorable really and one of the main reasons you have so many admirers. I bet you could even find something nice to say about Megatron, of all mechs." Bumblebee laughed, leaning back on the berth and moaning softly as Ratchet removed his digit and the pain in his valve dimmed down to a slight ache.

"He's a very determined sort. And inventive. And seems to take in strays a lot." He smiled as the medic snorted softly, trying to hide his chuckles. "He's a kind bot at spark, I know it. He totally cried when Bambi's mom died." Getting the reference, due to a Disney movie night in the rec room, Ratchet couldn't hold the laughter in any more, throwing his helm back and stumbling away from the berth.

It took him a few astroseconds to collect himself before he stumbled over to the sink and washed the gel from his servo's, chuckling softly. "Primus 'Bee! I would say I enjoy your visits just for the laughs, but I don't like to see any bot injured." He turned back to the minibot as he dried his servo's, his smile quickly shifting into a grin.

"So how did your night with the twins go? Were they insatiable kink fiends, like everybot says?"

"Why are we cleaning the washracks _again_?" Sideswipe pressed the extend on the cleaning tool in his hands and waited for it to hit something solid before enabling the grabbing mechanism and initiating the retract. A large green and brown lump of gunk came out of the tube and the mech couldn't keep himself from making a face as he deposited the filth into a bucket by his pedes, grimacing as it splashed up onto his stabilizer's.

"Because you never finished cleaning the washracks to begin with and that is simply unacceptable." The black and white Datsun standing by the door watched the twins as they continued to wipe up muck from all over the room, groaning and complaining the whole time.

Several bots had come down to the washracks, under the guise of cleaning up, just to talk to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, but Prowl wasn't allowing anybot to engage the two trouble-makers in conversation.

"And Sunstreaker, for failing to call ahead of his shift and _mention_, perhaps, that he would be late, will be heading down to the training hall to help Ironhide set up drones for the upcoming drills." The golden mech sneered at Prowl, scrubbing a little too hard against the floor and nearly snapping the handle of his brush. "You, Sideswipe, will be reporting to Red Alert for whatever punishment he has come up with for failing to show up for your shift."

Angry, but keeping himself from saying anything, the red mech bent to reconnect the pipe in his hands to the stall, grumbling and kicking at his brother to move on to the next stall. "Is there a particular reason why you're supervising us, Sir? We know how to clean the washracks. We're _experts_."

The black and white mech raised an optic ridge at the question before glancing around the room at the few stragglers pretending to shower. "I am aware of that fact Sideswipe. It's one of my favorite punishments to give out." Sunstreaker let loose with a short stream of curses, looking down at his still streaked chassis and the muck covering it.

"The reason I am here supervising is because you didn't finish last time. I want to make sure you don't run out on the job this time. I have a very busy schedule, but I can bring my work with me." His optics darted down to a datapad he had in one servo, forcing himself to keep his faceplates blank when the twins moved on to the last stall.

"You are very lucky that I decided you should only have to finish where you left off as opposed to cleaning everything all over again." Quiet snickers came from the door as Bluestreak wandered into the washracks, catching the end of Prowl's statement. The grey Datsun had streaks of mud on his stabilizer's and more than one small branch stuck in a seam.

"Hey Mechs! You look like you're not having any fun." He snickered again and was about to open his mouth, no doubt to start talking somebot's audio receivers off, when Sideswipe smirked.

"When was it that you and 'Bee got slagged on high grade and 'faced?" The red mech wondered when the washracks had ever been so quiet, as Bluestreak went pale and glanced around the room. He rocked on his pede's uncertainly and reset his vocalizer before launching into a long explaination.

"You know, I liked 'Bee for a long time before that but after it happened I realized it wasn't the same like as what you obviously have for him and I don't mean to rude about it, ya know, but I don't think it was right of you to make that announcement, just because it not only surprised a bunch of bots, but I don't think it was very nice to 'Bee.

"I know he didn't complain about it, but he was up in the medbay for a lack of energon, _he had a disconnected main line!_ And he really didn't need the stress at the time, although I'm sure he wasn't stressed by it, more flattered or embarrassed, but you know how 'Bee is! He never says what's bothering _him_, even though bots talk to him about their problems all the time.

"I mean, it's not like he and I stopped being friends after that happened. Sure it was a little awkward at first, but we got used to each other again and 'Bee had to have had someone else between then and now, so why aren't you talking to them? I mean-"

"I think that's enough Bluestreak. Go wash up." His lips clinked together and he nodded at Sunstreaker before shuffling over to one of the empty stalls, shutting the door behind him. The tense quiet in the washracks could have been cut with an energon blade, but Wheeljack, who had followed Bluestreak into the washracks, stepped forward to break it.

"This isn't a subject I'll stand for should somebot care to continue it. That bot might find a surprise hidden in their room, courtesy of me, if you get my meaning." The engineer straightened up and walked over to the twins. "But I would like it if you two stopped by my lab before continuing on to whatever other punishments you have to sit through. I have a present for you!"

Wheeljack's last statement was practically sung as he turned and sauntered out of the room. The twins went pale at the comment and glanced up at Prowl, who was finding it very easy to not pity the troublemakers.

"He's not allowed to blow us up on purpose, right?" Sideswipe shuddered at Prowl's uncaring shrug as he disconnected the waste line and got to work cleaning it out. "Of course, whatever he does give could be something that isn't intended to blow up, which means it would be a catastrophic explosion that would probably level everything for miles."

Sunstreaker chuckled at Sideswipe's rambling and stood off to the side of the stall. He was waiting for his brother to finish pulling out the line so he could get started on the floor, when Hound walked up to the two of them closely watched by Prowl.

"I'm only saying this once, but I'm saying it. I know you guys love playing pranks and you're not the nicest bots- just an astrosecond, Sir." The SIC had moved forward to intercept the green scout and wave him along, but he knew it was inevitable that more bots would start trying to get a moment with the twins.

"As I was saying, I know you're not the nicest bots, but 'Bee is. He's one of my best friends and I care about him a lot. You heard it from Wheeljack and now I'm saying it; You hurt him, I'll hurt you." The normally calm and friendly green jeep said all of this with a very cold tone to his optics, glaring at the two toughliner's who quietly nodded.

"Good! I've got to head out now to make my shift, but you mechs are doing a great job!" He smiled happily and left the washracks, humming a tune from a show on the human drama network. After that, the rest of the bots that had been waiting to talk to them all said something similar, much to the amusement of Prowl, before the twins could escape.

Both headed off to their next punishment, wondering if 'Bee was getting lectures from anybot.

"I just asked how you know you can trust them. It was not meant as an insult or an allusion to a lack of intelligence, 'Bee, I swear." Mirage leaned away from the minibot as Bumblebee hissed out a few curses.

"I know they're not angel's in armor or whatever, but I know they're serious. I wish mechs would stop asking me that..." Having limped into the rec room just a few kliks before, the yellow spy was getting his fair share of questions and concerns tossed at him by various bots that he was proud and happy to call his friends.

Mirage had sat down in the seat across from him when Powerglide said, quite loudly, that he needed to head back to the medbay and get his processor checked. The noble, who had just asked 'Bee if he was sure he could trust the twins, was quiet across from him, a soft contemplating look on his face.

Sighing, the noble leaned forward, which he normally wouldn't do as bad posture was considered a crime by the Tower's mech. "'Bee, if you're sure and you're serious, then I have nothing to say against your affections or your acceptance of their affections. But I'll be here if you ever need to talk, alright?"

Smiling at the support of at least one friend, the yellow bot sipped at his energon, nodding. "I didn't mean to snap at you. Just too many bots asking the same questions, you know?" They shared a short chuckle over that before a small smirk worked it's way across Mirage's faceplates.

"Were they as insatiable as everybot says?" Bumblebee laughed, feeling a small ache in his numbed out components, and stood up.

"I am so not elaborating on that..." Snickering quietly he stretched and smiled at Mirage. "Thanks for not calling me crazy or stupid or gullible." The noble smiled back and nodded at the minibot, who was turning to leave the room. "And if you're planning on lecturing the twins, don't bother. I'm sure they're getting an audio-full anyways."

"I don't doubt it..." Mirage muttered quietly as his optics took in the lines of Bumblebee's frame, then he sighed. "Too slow, noble. You missed the shot."

'Bee was heading back to his room, humming happily. He hadn't been bothered more than once during his shift in the storage rooms, although Bluestreak and Tracks had helped with that, redirecting questions and shooing at bots.

Tracks had made a bit of a game of it, pretending to grab at 'Bee's aft when the mini bent down to get something and laughing when Bluestreak loudly warned the yellow minibot. He knew the twins were probably out to get him anyways for his comment from the victory party, so he was just trying to have some fun before he was beaten to death.

Stretching as he rounded a corner, Bumblebee froze. His door was wide open and Cliffjumper was standing out in the hallway glaring at something or somebot who was in their room. _Oh no..._ Picking up his pace to make sure he would be able to stop whatever chaos was about to erupt, he nearly skidded to a halt when the red minibot turned to glare at him.

"You gave them our key code?" Bumblebee shook his head and warily stepped beside his roommate, glancing into their shared room. A gasp left his vocalizer as he stared at the far wall.

A beautiful painting dominated the far wall, a play of gold, red, and yellow that seemed to chaotically condense in the center to form a circle of flames. Unable to help himself, the minibot slid into the room and walked over to touch the painting. "Wow... This is..."

"Frag were you thinking, giving them our key code? Slaggers probably had their hands all over my stuff..." CJ stomped in behind him, but the yellow minibot wasn't paying attention to his grumblings. He ran the tips of his digits around the edge of the painting, his optics wide, and tried to control the pounding of his spark. "You gonna move in with them?"

Bumblebee didn't hear his roommate as he continued to look over the painting, noting a slight pattern to the way the colors twisted around each other. Every time he recognized a pattern, a twist of gold and red surrounding yellow, he softly brought his servo up to hover over the spot.

"'Bee!" He jumped, spinning around to face Cliffjumper. "Yea, it's pretty, but what's going on, seriously? You mechs just got into this relationship and Mr. Violent is giving you paintings?"

"Don't call him that." The red minibot scoffed. "I'm serious. He's not violent, just..." Smiling as several words came to mind to describe the toughliner, Bumblebee lifted his servo to touch the painting. "He's just Sunstreaker. Proud and a bit volatile, but not violent." Cliffjumper scoffed again.

"Whatever. Are you moving in with them?" Raising an optic ridge as the red mini pointed at something on his berth, Bumblebee turned and blushed. Bright pink words were painted on the wall, although they looked like it had been done by a sparkling with a bad brush.

'Get your stuff together. We'll pick you and your berth up when we're done with our punishments. Love, the twins~' Rocking in place for a klik, 'Bee pondered the possibilities.

On one servo, they had only been dating for a day (although they had already interfaced) and the minibot didn't know if they were ready to move in together. On the other servo, they had differing schedules and wouldn't see each other all the time anyways. He sighed, quickly coming to a decision and turning to face his roommate.

"Aren't there five stages to love?"

The twins were dragging themselves to Bumblebee's room, although neither felt like they would be able to help him move all of his things tonight. While Sunstreaker had been used like a pack mule by a gleeful Ironhide, Red Alert had given Sideswipe the task of checking and resetting all of the camera's in their security mainframe, under the SD's supervision of course.

The twins had then managed to successfully avoid both Wheeljack's lab and said scientist, but both mechs were tired and sore, wanting nothing more than to curl up around their minibot and recharge.

Cliffjumper grumbled as he walked past them, shooting both mechs a sneer. They shot one back, never being too tired to insult the red minibot, when he said something surprising. "I'm headed off to my temporary room so you mechs will have 'alone time', but don't touch my stuff."

They nodded, confused, and watched the mini walk away, still grumbling. Heading into 'Bee's room, they noticed that only a few of his things were packed, which was a bit discouraging to the toughliner's.

Of course, the fact that Bumblebee was bent over, his aft in the air as he placed things in a box on the ground, helped keep the twins from thinking too much. They moved forward and both grabbed either his aft or his thighs, chuckling when the minibot squeaked and jumped. He turned around with his faceplates flushed and a slightly horrified look, which quickly changed to one of relief.

"Fraggin Primus! I thought you were CJ for an astrosecond. He just left, right?" 'Bee brought his hands up to his audio receivers and turned the music he was listening to off, smiling at the obviously tired toughliner's.

"And I figured you would be tired after all of what went on today so I haven't packed everything." He grinned and slipped past the twins to shut the door, then turned to face them. "Sit down, sit down! You bots look like you're about to fall over!"

Chuckling, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker complied with their minibot's request and, while sitting down, they found that they were face to face with the bubbly yellow spy. Bumblebee was smiling happily, but shifiting in place as well, making the toughliner's take note of the tense set to his shoulders.

"I realized something earlier, something kind of upsetting- not about you!" He quickly held his servo's up when the twins started to pout. "No, it's just... You've both confessed your feelings to me and I haven't said much of anything back and I wanted to apologize for that and ex-explain something."

He reset his vocalizer, avoiding optic contact with the toughliners. "I haven't had very good relationships in the past, which is why I tend to not pursue bots and I wanted to apologize for thinking that you two were joking at first." Bumblebee glanced up as Sideswipe shrugged, a tired smile on his face.

"I love you. Both of you." The twins felt their sparks speed up.

"I love how you're so upbeat, even after being at war for so long. How you, Sunstreaker, can turn just a few colors of paint into an absolute masterpiece." Bumblebee glanced over at the painting on the far wall, loving the proud smile that lit up the golden toughliner's face. "I love how creative and hilarious the pranks you play are Sideswipe." The red mech swelled with pride, a smug grin on his faceplates.

"But mostly, I just love you." He blushed and giggled at their happy expressions. "So go to sleep and we'll move my stuff tomorrow, right mechs?" Sunstreaker grinned, grabbing one of 'Bee's arms and pulling the minibot closer.

"I am suddenly not tired."


End file.
